Inevitable
by BonsaiTree
Summary: It's been two years after Jack's death and '6 still has Alex firmly in their grasp. An unfortunate incident sends him back to the camp that marked the beginning of his spying career and even more bad luck ensures that he is stuck with the soldiers he least wants to face. Meawhile, a plot is unravelling, and as always, Alex will be caught in the middle. Chapter 10: The Waiting Game
1. Chapter 1: Forget Me Not

**[07/2012] IMPORTANT: This story is being rewritten to include Scorpia Rising in the timeline. As this is a fanfiction story, I've decided to leave out certain details for the sake of the story. Evidently, Alex did not go live with the Pleasures and Blunt was not fired/quit/whateverIdon'tremember. The fact that he ordered someone to take a shot at Alex at school was only known by certain people. I've also not read Alex Rider in a long time so feel free to point out any mistakes that don't include what was mentioned above.**

***The plot does deviate from the original in some parts and in a couple major ways, so it's not just a revision/edit.**

**Thanks to everyone who has favourited and reviewed since this story was first published, which was a shamefully long time ago.**

**Original Summary: Tom was quite sure he needed help. K-unit wanted to unravel his mystery. Alex was determined to push them away.**

**Disclaimer for entire story: all rights belong to Mr. Anthony Horowitz**

* * *

_**Chapter 1: Forget Me Not**_

* * *

" –lex! Hey, Alex! ALEX! AL!" The dark-haired boy sighed. It was lunch break at Brookland School and Tom Harris had just spotted his best friend making his way towards his usual secluded tree by the edge of the courtyard. He had tried getting Alex's attention, but just like every other time, Alex was stuck in his own little world.

Shaking his head, Tom ran to catch up to the retreating figure. He reached out to tap Alex on the shoulder as he drew level, just a second before realizing how stupid that idea was. He really should start learning from his mistakes.

Alex whirled around and suddenly Tom found his arms trapped behind his back. It was quite a painful position when your captor was a certain fair-haired spy-boy. All that training on the job had given Alex a fair amount of strength.

"OW! Shit, man!"

When the recognition returned to Alex's eyes a moment later, he let a big gust of air escape from his lips.

"Sorry, Tom. Didn't see you there." It was beginning to become somewhat of an automatic response whenever this particular scenario re-enacted itself, which was regrettably very often. Alex _was_ sorry, but he didn't see much of a point in trying anymore. It was just a matter of time before…before _they _got to him again.

"Hey! Show a bit more compassion for your friend, can't you?" Tom thumped his friend on the back indignantly, playing his part in this act of normalcy; then his gaze softened and it was his turn to sigh.

"Bad day?"

Alex snorted and stretched, plopping down on the grass. "Guess you could say that.

The spy's best friend – his _only_ friend – stared down at him, his expression remorseful. Tom knew he'd only just gotten back from another assignment and each time a bit of that bright gleam in Alex's eyes would disappear.

In the beginning, Tom had thought that spying was the height of "cool", as would any other teenager that had seen too many Bond films. Over the course of just over a year, that perspective changed drastically. Each time Alex returned, Tom sat him down and urged him to speak of the terrible events he'd been through, all the things he'd seen, the terror that he'd felt.

It would take a while, but eventually Alex would open up a bit and talk to him. Even then, Tom could tell he was leaving out many of the details. But that was okay. It was better than nothing at all, and honestly, Tom wasn't sure he wanted to know. Some days, Tom thought he might consider becoming a psychologist; he liked to think he was already fairly decent at it.

The last "trip" Alex had went on had been a bad one, Tom could tell. He was more withdrawn than usual and he just didn't seem to _want_ to care anymore. Even so, Tom had reason to believe that line had been crossed ages ago. More specifically, two years previous.

That'd been a truly terrifying time for Tom. He had never seen his best friend so angry. It had been fine the first couple days Alex had gotten back from the hospital, but one day, he just snapped. The two boys were walking back from the park and a couple of the Brookland thugs had come looking for some fun. Alex had walked on calmly…until they said something they really shouldn't have.

"What? Going to run home crying to that red-headed American slut?" The guy didn't even see the fist that knocked him out in one blow.

There was nothing Tom could do to stop Alex's rampage. He did sprint after him, though, when he finally turned and ran. The four thugs were left groaning on the pavement.

Tom had managed to catch the door before it slammed and he followed Alex inside. The missing red-headed presence in the spacious house had stolen his breath away like a blow to the stomach. Tom hadn't really known Jack well, but she'd always been a constant at Alex's side. Tom didn't need to worry too much, because she was there.

As Tom joined his friend slumped on the cold kitchen tiles, he found himself wishing he could go back and add a few kicks to the bullies' bruised ribs.

Now, many months later, Tom felt Alex had stabilized his emotions, but it wasn't the way Tom would've liked. The existence of MI6 prevented the young spy to make a full recovery, each mission only adding to Alex's suffering. But he seemed to have learned to block things out.

Tom didn't like the emptiness he saw; no one should have to try that hard to just _live_.

It was, without a doubt, strange to have the hero who had saved the world more than once sitting right next to him, but at what price? It seemed so unfair to Tom that Alex risked his life time and again to save others and he never got anything good out of it.

Tom knew he had no power to stop MI6, but he swore he would do whatever he could for his friend.

"Football after?"

Alex gave him a small smile. "Sure. If there's time."

* * *

Alex opened his eyes blearily and blinked in the shaft of sunlight streaming in through a crack in his bedroom curtains. He glanced sideways at his digital alarm clock to make sure he hadn't overslept. He hadn't.

With a slight groan, he dragged himself out of bed.

Alex descended the stairs minutes later and almost called out a "good morning!", before remembering that no one was there to reply. Not anymore. He ran a hand through his hair.

He entered the empty kitchen – was it always so big? – and got himself a bowl of cereal. It tasted a bit like cardboard. He grimaced. Alex had long since gotten used to making his own breakfast. He wasn't incapable, after all. But sometimes, he just couldn't bring himself to stand where she once stood and touch the things she should still be able to touch.

The less than satisfactory breakfast lasted about five minutes and then Alex was out the door. He didn't really want to stay in that house any longer than he had to. Once upon a time, it was occupied by two, occasionally three people, and they were happy. One by one, the others left and Alex was left by himself.

Alex forced himself not to dwell on that. It wouldn't do anyone any good, sulking.

His spirits were lifted slightly as he hopped on his bike, heading school-ward. The morning breeze was refreshing against his cheeks and the sun shining brightly overhead in the cloudless sky could lull anyone into a sense of security.

Alex Rider allowed himself a small smile. It was her kind of day; he'd make sure to enjoy it for her. He would have to do his best before _they_ took him away again.

Sitting in homeroom, it was easy to pretend that nothing had ever gone wrong. Tom was yapping as usual and even the random insults thrown his way were bearable.

"Hey, Rider! Did your gang pals beat you up again? Or did a drug deal go wrong?"

Alex closed his eyes briefly without turning to the owner of the voice. Tom's chatter had cut off and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Tom's fists clench.

"Tom, leave it, it's fi – "

He cut himself off, the hair on the back of his neck prickling. That familiar sense of being watched washed over him. But how could that be? He was at school. School was safe. The only time that feeling had ever been broken was when Blunt decided to pretend-snipe him. He wasn't in actual danger then.

But he saw it, and knew his instinct, sharp as ever, hadn't deceived him. The metallic sheen of a gun blinked at him and he ducked, not a moment too soon.

His mind registered Tom speaking his name, concerned, before the windows shattered, glass fragments flying in all directions. Classmates screamed. A stroke of luck ensured that the windows hadn't been open. In the cascade of shards, the bullets' flight path was disrupted. They flew wide and smashed against the wall opposite.

Alex had missed death yet again. Unfortunately, he had the misfortune of sitting right next to a window and winced as he felt the glass cut into his flesh.

Meanwhile, the rest of the class finally had the sense to take cover beneath their own desks, a few girls still screaming. Only the teacher remained standing. He appeared to be in a state of shock.

"Mr. Smith!" Alex yelled urgently. That seemed to be enough to snap him out of his trance. He too clambered underneath his desk.

A shadow loomed over Alex as the snipers leapt through the broken window. Each person, dressed in black, had a small silver pin attached to their uniform. It was a small scorpion.

He should've been frightened at the sight of three trained assassins who could have no other goal then to end his own life. Instead, a wave of blinding fury rose up inside him. These were the people who had ruined his life, starting from when he was just an infant. They were like a shadow – one he couldn't seem to get rid of. They were the ones who killed his parents, Ian, _Jack._

How dare they come here?

How dare they shatter the one place of normalcy Alex had left?

But Scorpia never forgives, and they had not forgotten.

* * *

**A/N: **

**I apologize for inaccurate physics…**

**And please do feel free to point out any inaccuracies/inconsistencies.**

**Any questions regarding the rewriting, please PM or leave a review.**

**The first few chapters will probably be a bit slow. **

**Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2: Encounter

_**Chapter 2: Encounter**_

Alex had made an alarming amount of enemies over the course of his career as a spy. Some friends, but mostly enemies. Of course, a good portion of these enemies didn't survive meeting him and if they did, they were crippled or captured. Scorpia, however, was like a hydra. Get rid of one head and they pop out with another. Or something like that, anyway.

Alex wasted no more time on the thought. He pulled out an insignificant looking pen from his pocket, twisted the cap one-eighty degrees counter-clockwise and clicked the top three times. A distress signal was now being transmitted directly to MI6 headquarters.

Well, it was actually being sent to Smithers, whom Alex always referred to him as the "gadget master". Smithers was one of the few at MI6 that knew the full extent (almost) of his missions, and actually cared about the boy. His "toys" had saved Alex many times.

At the moment, Alex had no offensive gadgets on him except his own pocket knife. Every time he came face to face with the heads of Spec Ops, he would ask for a gun, only to be rejected. Alex wasn't sure he'd able to shoot to kill, but it would give him some comfort. If it came to it, he could use it as a club.

There was no time to dwell on "ifs", though; Alex wasn't going to sit by and let these men do as they please. Even a small victory would bring a feeling of satisfaction against the organization that sought to ruin his life even more than they already had.

Everyone had been herded into a corner. Some people looked like they were about to cry, while others didn't look like the whole situation had sunk in yet. The three Scorpia agents stood facing them.

"Rider." The tallest man spoke. He had a deep gravelly tone that still managed to drip venom. "You know what we want. No one else needs to get hurt."

_That's what they always say._ Alex made to move forward, but found that someone had his arm in a vice-like grip. He glanced back and saw Tom shaking his head at him.

_What are you doing? Trying to get yourself killed?_

Furrowing his brow, Alex peeled Tom's fingers off his arm.

_Don't try and stop me. I'm not letting anyone else die for me._

"Do not make this any harder than it needs to be. Do you need encouragement?"

The other assassin grabbed the nearest kid by the collar and held him at gunpoint. "If you don't step up right now, your friend will have his brains blown out."

Alex almost had to hide a smirk. The kid was Richard Blake, a guy who took particular pleasure in tormenting Alex. He looked like he was going to wet his pants. Still, Alex stepped forward.

The small crowd parted for him. Alex kept his expression blank as he walked towards the agents. It seemed like today was the day Alex Rider would finally meet his end. What chance did he have against three more powerful and armed men? But he could try.

The Scorpia agents came into clearer view and sharp, experienced eyes used the opportunity to take in every single little detail. Height, estimated weight, possible speed and agility were all accounted for and every weapon was noted.

The men hadn't really anticipated that action beyond firing a sniper rifle was necessary; that much was clear. One or two bullets should have been fired and the target should have died. That was evident in their faintly irritated expressions. Perhaps that might work against them.

Still, they had radios and that meant there were more of them close by, or perhaps, in the school right now. Alex hoped, for the sake of his classmates, that backup would get here on time, if sent at all.

He took another second to evaluate before he acted. The one holding Blake had opening his mouth to speak, but never got a chance. A round-house kick to the head found its mark and he toppled sideways, unconscious.

Another man, the speaker, raised his gun, startled but furious, but Alex was too close for it to be of any use. They were soon locked in heated hand-to-hand combat. Alex had judged correctly; the man had not been prepared for this and it wasn't his job to fight. However, Alex was still at a great disadvantage. There were two of them left and their brute strength and size made it almost impossible for Alex to keep up.

He grimaced in pain as a knife sliced a path on his left shoulder. Dimly, he heard a few sharp intakes of breath when drops of his blood splattered to the ground.

Eventually though, he managed to hook a leg around the assassin's foot, dragging him off balance, and delivering a quick blow to the neck. The man crashed to the floor beside his partner and lay still.

Alex turned in alarm, realizing that there should've been a third attacker but he saw, confused, the agent already lying still on the ground. Then, he spotted the dart sticking out of his neck and breathed a sigh of relief. For once, MI6 had done their jobs. Probably had something to do with all the school children that were endangered.

Through all this, the class had watched in dumbfounded silence as "druggie Rider" took down two fully-grown, armed and undoubtedly very dangerous men, single-handedly. Admittedly, he looked worse for wear with a livid bruise forming on a cheek and the cut on his arm was bleeding sluggishly, but he was up and about. Or at least he was until he staggered, the adrenaline wearing off.

Tom let out an exclamation and darted forward to steady him and pull up a chair. He knew what Alex was capable of, but he had never seen Alex in actual "working mode", and, well, it was pretty damn amazing. The rest of the kids just stood there gaping like fish out of water. But, the day's surprises weren't over.

Hurried footsteps echoed down the hallway, fast approaching the classroom. Alex swore and reached over to nab one of the guns discarded nearby and raised it with his good arm to point at the door. It was the most he could do, drained of energy and slumped in his chair.

The door burst open. Another two men came charging into the room, weapons at the ready, eyes taking in the scene before them.

"Rider?" One of them inquired hesitantly, seeing Alex's own gun. So they were MI6.

Alex sighed inwardly. Of course they would look surprised for their target to be a teenager, even in a school.

"Yeah, that's me."

"We've been instructed to take you to the Royal and – hey, you alright?" The agent that spoke finally caught sight of the blood staining Alex's school uniform. He hurried to crouch by his side.

"This looks nasty," he murmured, and Alex was taken aback by the concern in the man's voice. So apparently suits did possess emotions. Or maybe he was just new. "I'm Correler, by the way. We'll get you some first-aid soon as possible."

Alex grimaced and couldn't resist saying, "You probably shouldn't give your name so easily."

Correler blinked down at him, wrong-footed. "Not bad, kid." He let out a weak chuckle before hauling Alex to his feet, and Alex let out a resigned sigh as he was led out the door.

"Mr. Blunt will see you now."

Alex's arm had been wrapped up in the MI6 car en route, and properly treated in a room closely resembling that of an actual hospital. Turns out the cut wasn't very deep so he wouldn't be needing any stiches. He was left alone there and not even five minutes had passed before someone came to fetch him; a record.

He got to his feet and followed his escort to the elevator. It was routine; he'd done it many times before although his starting point was different this time. Soon, he arrived at a polished wooden door and hesitated before knocking twice.

"Come in!" called a voice that didn't belong to a man. Mrs. Jones was obviously standing next to her superior, as usual.

Alex entered and plopped himself down in a chair without invitation, breathing in the scent of peppermint. He saw, with satisfaction, Blunt give a disapproving twitch. Mrs. Jones looked like she was fighting a smile. She had grown rather fond of the boy.

The office was silent for a moment. Alex was determined not to be the first to speak and merely sat staring at the two heads of Special Operations. He was rewarded when Blunt gave a slight cough.

"You probably have a pretty good idea why Scorpia attacked today." He paused when Alex snorted. "It seems, despite the crippling hits they suffered two years ago, they have still managed to hold on to a couple of resources. New leaders have stepped up and apparently have decided they need to get rid of the source of their losses." He stopped again when the addressed narrowed his eyes in an impressive glower.

"You never said anything about that," he intoned slowly, deliberately. "You mean you _knew_ that Scorpia was going to attack and you didn't even bother to warn me?"

Jones shifted uncomfortably. "They're not nearly as powerful as before. We didn't think they would move quite so quickly."

"Yeah," Alex let the sarcasm seep through in great dollops. "I'm sure you were all too busy to send a little memo! I never knew terrorists were going to attack, thanks for telling me ahead of time! Oh, and also, thanks so much for making sure they had no chance of succeeding!"

"Alex, we're sorry for-"

"Oh, you're sorry, are you? Well, now that changes everything!" Any inkling of the good mood he had this morning had evaporated.

"Alex-"

"What are you telling the witnesses?"

There was a pause.

"Your uncle had uncovered a black-market business deal and the company is out for revenge. It's classified. They're signing the Official Secrets Act."

"And the rest of the school?"

"There's no need to tell them too much as they didn't see anything. Terrorists came to take hostages for ransom. The local law enforcement will deal with protection. That's all." Mrs. Jones inserted a freshly unwrapped mint in her mouth. That was the cue for Blunt to take over.

"Scorpia was willingly to take on an entire school to get to you; therefore, we have concluded that you are in a considerable amount of danger. We cannot have you dying," Alex's face darkened, "so we have decided to send you somewhere safe for the time being."

"Where?"

"You have been there before. It's a SAS training camp. In Wales."

Yes, Alex had been there before. Ten days in hell. But, the argument was sensed before even a word was uttered.

"No use in resisting, _Alex_, we'll use force if necessary. It's the safest place possible. You'll still be pulled out if we need anything." All pretenses had been stripped away a few missions ago. Alex bowed his head, temper blazing.

"You can hone your skills while you're there. The school will be told the truth; that you are going away for protection. You leave tomorrow. Agent Daniels will escort you home." It was a dismissal.

_Daniels?_ Alex thought. _As Ben Daniels? Fox?_ His musings were ended when, sure enough, a tall relatively handsome man greeted him in the lobby.

"Hey, Alex! You doing alright? You've gotten a lot taller!" he asked cheerily.

"Fine, I suppose. You? Your shoulder didn't get any permanent damage from last time, did it?" The last time they had met was on a mission, and Ben had been shot.

"It's all fine. And are you sure it's _my_ shoulder we should be worried about?" Ben peered at the bandages visible through the rip in Alex's shirt, forehead crinkled with concern. "Seems like we'll never meet under normal circumstances, eh?"

"Well, we've only ever met two times before," Alex replied.

Ben grinned at him. "We should up that number! You are a pretty cool kid; I wouldn't mind hanging out with you more!"

"As long as no one's getting shot at, I suppose," Alex muttered under his breath.

Ben's smile faltered. He'd expected a good-natured response, maybe a sarcastic comment about him being too old, something more…positive. There was a subtle change about the teen since the last time they came face to face.

"Well, uh, we should probably get going."

Alex followed him silently to the double doors leading outside. Ben held open the door, waiting for Alex to go first. The underage spy seemed to slow a bit at the threshold and Ben tipped his head to one side, curious, when the doorman gave Alex a warm pat on the shoulder and a smile on his way out.

"Security's still top notch in this area, don't you worry."

Ben saw the grimace disguised as a weak smile that Alex returned. He walked out slowly after the boy and couldn't stop himself asking, once out of earshot, "What was that all about?"

Alex didn't even turn to look at him, and shook his head.

**A/N: Originally, this was going to end with Jack getting killed, but Mr. Horowitz ended up actually doing it, so I won't have to bother. Again, I've edited this story to include the major events in Scorpia Rising.**


	3. Chapter 3: Back to Hell

_**Chapter 3: Back to Hell**_

* * *

Bleak and dead. Those two words fit the description of the landscape outside perfectly. Everything was a blur of brown and grey as the car sped down the muddy path in Wales.

A young man sat in the back seat, silent and unmoving. His brown eyes were staring blankly out the tinted window at the overcast sky, but he wasn't truly looking.

The driver glanced frequently back at him. He didn't know anything about him, except that he was to be dropped off at the SAS training camp. He was undoubtedly dying with curiosity, considering his passenger's youth. However, after working for the 'bank' for as long as he had, one would learn not to question the higher-ups.

Still, he felt a spark of concern for the man-boy who looked more dead than alive. Many times he opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't find the words. So, each time he merely closed it again, only to open it again minutes later. Then close, then open, then close. After all, he didn't even know his first name, just his last. Rider.

The rest of the journey continued in silence. When a plain building pulled into view, the man almost sighed in relief. The lack of sound had been weighing down on him.

He stopped the car, turned off the ignition and opened the door to step out onto the sodden ground. Rider was already standing there with his pack slung over his shoulder.

"So, um, yeah. That's the main office. There should be someone there to, uh, inform you of the proceedings. And I'll be going now. So…yeah." Really, what was he supposed to say? _Enjoy your stay?_ He doubted anyone could enjoy a stay at a SAS training camp.

He gave Rider a half-hearted grin, and strode awkwardly back to the car.

* * *

Sergeant Myers heard a car pull up in front of the building. _The MI6 agent's arrived then._ His thoughts turned bitter. _Why the bloody hell do they keep doing that? Where the heck do they think this is? A playground? We hardly have time to go looking after those bloody _spies_!_

Outside, the car door slammed and the sergeant watched it reverse and back out the 'driveway' through the grimy window. A figure walked out of his line of sight and he heard a short knock.

He pulled open the door and stared suspiciously at the youthful face presented to him. They were recruiting young these days. The man was blond, with deep brown eyes – eyes that stared back at him steadily. He couldn't be more than twenty-something, but the way he held himself, in all his lanky height, spoke of experience. In what, exactly, was harder to say.

What happened to him, the sergeant found himself wondering. His gaze fixed on a thin white line running down the man/boy's neck. Then he shook himself. He was not told, so it wasn't his job to find out. He was suddenly the feared and respected sergeant again.

"Right. You probably know better than I do why the hell you're here. I would like more than anything to bin you, but I'm not allowed. That doesn't mean you'll get off easy!" he snarled. "You'll be staying with K-unit. Whatever they do, you do. You're young, I don't care! _Is that clear?_"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good. Here's a copy of the schedule. You'll be called…Cub. That, from now on, will be your formal name at the SAS. Now, off you go!"

He watched this new Cub turn his back and walk out the door. He let the lines of confusion crease his face. All this time, in his mind, the name "Cub" had been matched with an even younger face. What had happened to him? He'd always been listed as a member of K-unit, although he'd never been present. Ever.

Glancing down at the file he held, he saw that K-unit still had five members. Only this time, the fifth would actually be joining his unit, at least for a while.

Unless…wait. Was it possible that…this Cub and the one from before…

But, that couldn't be. The little Cub had only come because his daddy had lots of money, and this older Cub was a spy. They couldn't be the same. Could they? He did rather look like little Cub, but then, the sergeant couldn't say he had a perfect memory of what the teenager had looked like.

The sergeant scratched his head in confusion. If it was actually true…well. He had never cared much for kids, but secretly, he would pray that this one would be alright.

* * *

Earlier, Wolf, Snake, Eagle and Lynx had been called to the sergeant's office. There, they were told that they would be getting an extra team member, "just like last time". They had not questioned orders.

Now, they were grumbling.

"Why the fuck do we get stuck with the freakin' MI6 bastard?" Lynx moaned. He was the replacement for Fox, after he crossed sides. He had fallen in quickly with the others despite their relationship with their former teammate. "We're only back here for a refresher and they do this to us? The _hell?_"

"I can't understand why Foxy-boy ditched us for them!" That was Eagle.

Snake, always the quiet one of the group, shrugged with a frown on his face. Wolf just grunted ill-temperedly.

Thoughts were broken when they heard knocks resounding on their barrack's door. They hadn't even heard footsteps. No one moved and Lynx eventually got up, mumbling about _lazy bastards,_ and went to get the door.

His frame blocked most of the doorway so they couldn't make out the agent's face. All they saw were glimpses of blond hair and a duffle bag. They heard Lynx ask gruffly, "You the MI6 guy?"

"Yeah," a quiet voice answered. There was a pause.

"A bit young, aren't you?"

"Are you paid to make small talk?"

The response was flat, voiced without infliction at all but Lynx chuckled anyway, turning his head to the guys. "This might not be so bad! This one's got a sense of humour!" He stepped aside.

* * *

He was back. Well, and truly. The moment the mud-splattered car came to a halt in front of a familiar building surrounded by green and brown, Alex finally realized he was trapped in this world. The thought hit him like a ton of bricks, even though it was by no means a new concept.

Well, he wasn't here to make friends, and that was lucky for the soldiers. After what happened to all of Alex's "friends"… Once upon a time, Alex might've taken this moment to wallow in self-pity, but now he ignored the ache in his heart and walked forward.

_Officially Cub, eh? 'Just protection', indeed._

* * *

The soldier standing in front of him sidestepped revealing three familiar, faces. Alex had been dreading this particular reunion, vaguely wishing Ben was beside him. The longing was pushed away like everything else; _no friends allowed,_ Alex reminded himself, _no one in this place would care anyway; they've all got their own problems to worry about._

He expected to hear surprised, probably angry exclamations of his now-official codename and furious questions as to why he was imposing his presence on them _again _– becauseonce was already too much – but there was nothing.

Not even from Wolf, who had interacted with him more than the others on Point Blanc.

Alex, or Cub rather, made no move to speak. He merely made his way to the only unoccupied cot and began unpacking. He could feel the eyes of the other men watching his every move. After a few more seconds of uncomfortable silence, someone finally spoke up.

"So, uh, care to introduce yourself?" It was the soldier Alex had not recognized.

Alex grimaced. Of course they hadn't been told. It would have saved him a lot of effort otherwise. But then again, no need to prolong the pain.

"Cub."

There was another pause in which the stares intensified and Alex frowned slightly. He wasn't _that_ interesting, was he?

The unnamed soldier spoke up again. "You know, that sounds familiar. Hey, wasn't that the name of the other guy who was put with you in training last time? Bit of a tradition then, isn't it?"

Alex turned his head to see Wolf, Snake and Eagle squinting at him, as if trying to figure something out. Did they actually not recognize him anymore?

Apparently not, as no one said anything about it.

"What happened to your face?" Eagle asked instead, pointing at the bruise on his cheekbone.

"Fight."

"Ah." It wasn't uncommon, after all, in their line of work, spy or soldier.

Alex grunted. "I'll just get some rest then. Goodnight."

Any chitchat didn't last long after that. The whole of K-unit fell asleep that night feeling especially confused. But there was a lot more confusion coming and questions answered would just turn into more questions and befuddlement. The next few days were going to be very long.


	4. Chapter 4: New Thoughts to Ponder

_***Once again, if this is your first time reading, I recommend not reading the non rewritten chapters. The rewritten ones will have chapter titles.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 4: New Thoughts to Ponder**_

* * *

"Hey, what's that guy doing here?"

"Wonder where he came from..."

"Looks like K's stuck with the loner again."

The whispers started the moment Wolf, Snake, Eagle, Lynx and Cub stepped into the mess hall for breakfast. One would have thought it was a normal cafeteria at a high school, the way rumours travelled.

Even though Alex's appearance had changed significantly from the last time he was here, he was still young enough to look like the underdog.

K-unit sat down at their usual table with their trays of mush and tried to ignore the other units. Wolf was glaring at everyone who looked their way. He was definitely not a morning person.

Cub sat down a little way away from the rest of the group but no one was paying any attention to him, just the way he liked it.

But apparently someone up there really hated him because Lynx started talking, and his chosen target was, unfortunately, his newest teammate. He'd leaned over and began firing off questions almost faster than Alex could follow.

"So, why are you here? What were you doing before? Are you on a mission or something? I need details, man!" He'd been dying with curiosity the previous night, ever since their new teammate was revealed. In fact, he'd expressed his curiosity in such a way that Wolf even pulled out his infamous glare of death.

"Yo, new guy!" K-unit turned as one to see who had shouted. It was Shark from B-unit. The rest of the unit were all shaking their heads but looking amused all the same.

"So what's a kid like you doing here, huh? Decided to play soldier?" The big hulking soldier stalked closer to Cub, who didn't appear to react at all. The hall had quietened, all eyes drawn towards the confrontation.

"Afraid to answer?" Cub finally looked up from his food, staring straight into Shark's eyes. His steely gaze was filled with ice, and he didn't blink once.

Shark, on the other hand, looked taken aback from this lack of fear. He recovered quickly and plowed on in his campaign. "I'm Shark and you're going to remember that. You think you're better than the rest of us? I'm going to make you cry for your mummy!"

K-unit, who were all staring very closely at Cub, noticed a slight narrowing of his eyes and knew, somehow, that Shark's next move was a mistake.

He was reaching down to grab Cub's collar, but he never got the chance. Cub tilted his head slightly and grabbed the hand, twisting.

Shark felt a terrible pain, and before he could register it fully, his face was pressed into the table. Cub – when had he stood up? – had his arm pinned behind him and he bent down to whisper in his ear.

The voice that spoke to him sent a chill down his spine. "Please do not make assumptions based on nothing. Don't bother me again. Thank you."

He was released very suddenly. Straightening up shakily, he stole a glance at his supposed-to-be target. His face turned red. The young man was again sitting in front of his food like nothing had happened.

The members of K-unit had watched all this with expressions of disbelief.

"You guys saw that, right? I wasn't hallucinating?" Eagle asked.

"Yeah, looks like this Cub has a few skills." Snake muttered, shaking his head.

Lynx chuckled, amazed. "Been awhile since Shark got his ass whooped! I'm not going to messing with _him_ anytime soon. "Cub" is a bit misleading, isn't it?"

"Then again, aren't we just jumping to conclusions here?" Snake began quietly. "We're only surprised because he looks younger. The sarge did say it was an agent that was going to be joining us. If he's good enough to make MI6, he's got to be able to hold his own. And even if he's actually as young as he looks, we still can't underestimate. Just take the first Cub for example…"

Wolf gave a disbelieving snort. Snake turned to him with a smirk. "Don't try and deny it. Remind me, who was it that kicked –"

"Alright, alright. So, he lasted longer than I expected. Doesn't mean anything; it's not like he was actually training to do anything important."

"Yeah, because saving twenty kids from a mad scientist and preventing world disaster isn't important," Eagle scoffed.

"That was _one time!_"

"I think one time's plenty if you're snowboarding down a hill getting shot at, on an _ironing board_. You said so yourself"

"Girls, if you're quite done," Lynx cut in, amused, "we've got a weapons lecture in five."

He and Snake, already standing, laughed as their teammates jumped up with muttered expletives.

It wasn't the most interesting lecture, for some, but it was important and so K-unit hurried out of hall, heading towards Barrack 23.

They were barely out the door when Lynx stopped suddenly, as if just remembering something important. He turned around searchingly. "Where'd Cub go?"

The others turned as well, but the MI6 agent was nowhere to be found.

Wolf growled in frustration. "Great. We're already late; we can't look for him. He'll have to manage. But he'll pay if we get in trouble for this. Let's go."

* * *

K-unit trudged out of the lecture, stretching their arms and popping joints.

"God, they never have anything new, do they?"

Snake sighed. "Eagle, that's only because you know it all. I didn't mind the refresher." Technical aspects of weaponry were never his strong point.

"Hear, hear," Lynx agreed. "I prefer to do the actual shooting; the maintenance I leave to you more capable people. But we should probably head over to the lake now. Bet Cub's already there."

They had arrived at the weapons lecture anticipating a telling off for losing their newest member so early in the day, only to find Cub already seated inside. He disappeared again as soon as the lecture was over.

"A bloody ninja, he is," Wolf grumbled.

"A spy, you mean," said Eagle.

Snake chuckled. "That he is."

* * *

"Warm up!" Wolf was calling. "We're going to be doing a length straight across and back. After that, we have a ten minute break before we head over to the Killing House. Got it?"

Snake, Lynx and Eagle murmured assent, already on the ground stretching. Alex began doing the same warily, a bit away from the group.

When time was up, they lined up at the edge of the water, waiting for Wolf's signal.

Lynx glanced over at the boy-man-whatever, and found himself quite curious about his abilities. In the few times his unit had mentioned their unorthodox fifth member, their tones had always carried a sort of grudging respect. Cub didn't look physically imposing, but it was easy to tell that he kept himself in shape. Still, he looked young enough to invoke the overprotective older brother in Lynx.

"Hey, you okay with that arm?" Lynx frowned at the bandage he spotted. It was small and no blood stained the white, but it was still an injury. Cub hadn't even taken his shirt off. Was he so inexperienced that he didn't even know the basics? "You should probably – "

But Wolf gave his signal and the rest of the unit slipped into the water. Lynx had no choice but to follow.

* * *

Alex felt a gaze fixed on him but he didn't turn around to confront him. He really wished people would stop scrutinizing him like he was some zoo animal though. He didn't want to be here, and he certainly didn't want to stand out in any way. Why couldn't people just leave him alone? Two years ago, he'd looked distinctly like the schoolboy he was, but he hoped his seventeen year old self would lessen the attention.

He was really glad when the signal to begin was given. Diving into the icy water, he allowed his mind to focus on the task at hand.

* * *

Lynx climbed ashore, shaking the water out of his hair. Turned out he had absolutely nothing to worry about, in regards to Cub's capabilities. He had finished neck and neck with Lynx, pulling out of the water with no evident exhaustion.

Lynx watched his movements discreetly, narrowing his eyes when Cub turned away to change his wet shirt for a dry one. Did he have something to hide? He certainly didn't mind anyone seeing the bandage on his arm. No one commented since he didn't say anything although Snake had been sneaking glances at it. It didn't seem to hinder any movement, though.

And where did this sudden interest in Cub come from? Lynx was becoming more and more confused. It hadn't even been a full day and he was already feeling like he was a big brother. Such a softie.

The soldier was about to give his brain a break by focusing on something besides the blond enigma when he saw the kid rub his chest, a slightly pained expression flitting across his face.

Alarm bells went off. Was there another injury? Anything on the chest would be pretty dangerous. Maybe he should tell Snake. Lynx was bemused by his own reaction. He wasn't usually this jumpy – or was he? – but that'd been the most expression Cub had worn since their meeting the previous night.

Lynx groaned. He really wanted to sleep.

* * *

The dark heavy clouds outside had finally given up on holding up the downpour of moisture. And so it poured. By the time K-unit had finished dinner and dashed to their barrack, they were soaked to the skin.

The men had abandoned the idea of a bath, since going outside would just result in getting showered in rain water. Each plopped down on their respective resting space, glad to be able to relax.

Alex had been planning to take a pill or two to keep the throbbing in his chest to a minimum, but decided there was no point. The rest of the day had passed without incidence, strangely enough, but the constant physical assertion had gradually worn him down. He'd have to get use to the amplified residual pain over the next few days until he was able to fall into the pattern of SAS training. After all, his missions didn't usually involve constant working out.

The unit was pretending he didn't exist, like always, but it was still very awkward just sitting there. He was glad that on a last minute whim, he had grabbed all the books on the reading list for school before leaving for Beacons.

Now, he retrieved one from his trunk and set about trying to get through a few chapters before turning in. Vaguely, he silently mused whether he would ever go back to Brookland. Probably not; it was his last year anyway. _I wonder how Tom's doing…_

To his horror, a painful lump rose in his throat. Without his noticing, his eyes had begun to sting. _What's wrong with you? Get a hold of yourself._ He took a deep breath, and tried vainly to refocus on his reading.

After a while, he it came to his awareness that he'd been staring at the same sentence for two minutes without comprehending. With a small sigh, he gave up and put his things away. Changing swiftly, back to the room, he clambered into bed and closed his eyes.

* * *

"…yeah seriously. Did you see Owl's face?" Eagle snorted, earning a chuckle from the others.

Glancing around momentarily, he saw Cub sitting on his bed, which had been pushed into a corner. He held a book in his lap and seemed quite focussed on it.

Attention averted, his mind automatically tuned down the voices of his fellow teammates and turned to scrutinize this new point of interest. Eagle marveled the ability to _concentrate_ on anything involving more than a page of writing. Language arts had never been his strong point.

Then, Eagle noticed a shift in the young man he held under careful scrutiny. Had he not been observing so closely, he wouldn't have been able to tell. It was minute, but there. A crease between the eyebrows, a quick clenching of a fist. The next symptom was more obvious: a sharp, but silent, inhale. Now, what was that all about?

Eagle briefly entertained the possibility of an emotional scene in the book, but it was quickly dismissed. Cub had only been with them a day, but he didn't come off as particularly emotional. Quite the opposite, in fact.

He'd almost decided to make his signature invasion into personal space – a little bonding time couldn't hurt – when Wolf made a ridiculous comment about something-or-another. He turned back to the group with a laugh and all thoughts about their newest member were pushed to the back of his mind.

* * *

Snake yawned sluggishly in the dark. He had no idea what time it was, though it was no doubt deep in the night. The rain had cleared up some, and faint glimmers of moonlight danced softly through the window, casting shadows all around.

Acknowledging the thirst that woke him, Snake stumbled out of bed to the water jug. He could just make out the bulky silhouette of Wolf, one arm hanging down the side of his bunk. Lynx's mouth was ajar and he gave quiet snores every now and then.

"Teddy bears and apple cider!" Snake slopped water all down his front, startled. He almost laughed out loud when he confirmed that it had been Eagle who had given the sudden…erm, _interesting_ exclamation. He had drool pooling on his cheek.

Snake shook his head. Eagle was one man whom Snake couldn't fathom. Strange didn't even begin to cover it. Now he was muttering about metre sticks and…pigs that couldn't fly?

His eyes rested lastly upon Cub. There was another mystery. Snake remembered distinctly the Cub that had come to Beacons some time ago. They shared a name but they were two very different people.

Then he noticed something that made him edge closer. Cub's form was unnaturally still. On closer inspection, Snake saw that his knuckles were clenched tightly around the covers. He didn't make a sound while his breath came in short gasps. The light was too dim to define his face, but it was obvious that he was having a nightmare.

Snake hesitated. He stretched out a hand to…to do what? He retracted it again. He forced himself away jerkily. There was nothing he could do anyway, and so he resorted to returning to bed.

Nevertheless, he lay awake for much time, pondering.


	5. Chapter 5: More Revelations

_***Once again, if this is your first time reading, I recommend not reading the non rewritten chapters. The rewritten ones will have chapter titles.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 5: More Revelations**_

* * *

The sky had wrung itself dry before the night had ended, but, unfortunately, it left behind a mess of squishy mud and sodden patches of vegetation. Nevertheless, the SAS went on as normal. With some disgruntled individuals.

"I never realized how much goop we had in this place!" Eagle burst out while K-unit was trekking down to the mess hall for their breakfast.

Lynx smirked at him. "Aw, has the poor little birdie got his wings stuck in the mud?" He ducked quickly under Eagle's fist, smile growing.

"You two! Stop behaving like five year olds!" Wolf growled. He rubbed the bride of his nose. He had thought _Eagle_ equaled bad headaches, before Lynx was added to the equation.

Exiting the mess hall later, the unit was heading down towards their languages lectures. Each SAS soldier was required to be familiar with at least one language other than English.

Wolf was already fluent in his native language, Spanish. Snake had learned German, while Eagle stuck with French. Lynx, who was the best in languages, knew all three. So basically K-unit had three out of the six languages provided. The other three were Japanese, Russian and Arabic.

The men were about to split up as the usually did to get to their respective classes, before they suddenly realized that Cub probably didn't have a clue where to go. They stared at one another, then at Lynx.

The man shrugged and turned to the youngest of the five and asked, "What are you supposed to be taking now?"

Cub seemed to think for a moment. "Arabic."

"Right, cool. Just follow me then. I'm the only one learning that one right now, out of all of us."

* * *

As it turned out, Cub wasn't that great with that particular language. He knew most of the basic vocabulary and a few expressions but he was still lacking when it came to having a conversation. It seemed like he was a fast learner, though. In an hour and a bit, he'd picked up plenty of new words and phrases. Still, Lynx had to wonder.

The class had let out a few minutes earlier and the two K-unit operatives were walking side by side. Lynx glanced at the blond.

"So, um, what do you do for '6?"

Cub didn't look at him, but he responded after a second, hesitantly. "Special Operations."

"Lots of classified stuff, then? Or are you still green? You are pretty young. How old are you anyway?" Lynx winced. He didn't mean to say it all in one go. "I mean, well, if you don't mind me asking…"

There was no answer but Cub had tilted his head to study him in a way that made Lynx feel like he was being x-rayed.

"You're wondering why I'm not fluent in a language." It wasn't a question and Lynx grimaced at being caught.

"Yeah, sorry. Obviously you don't need to say anything. Had a brother working for SO and he weren't allowed to say much either."

"A brother?"

Lynx grinned to himself. This was probably the longest conversation anyone ever had with the mysterious Cub, and he was speaking voluntarily, too! He briefly wondered where this childish sense of pride had come from. Only a day and Cub had managed to screw up his emotions.

"Yup. He was a lot older than me, though."

"You're using past tense." …Crap, shouldn't have mentioned his brother.

"Uh, yeah. Haha." Lynx chuckled awkwardly. "He, uh, was KIA apparently, couple years back."

Cub looked away. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. Didn't really know the guy."

They had reached their destination – the dreaded assault course – and they spotted more three figures heading their way.

"Mes frères!" Eagle called exuberantly to the two that were waiting. He had a habit of speaking French for the hour following a languages class which annoyed the hell out of Wolf and Snake. Lynx merely shook his head in exasperation.

"Idiot."

"Tu sais que tu m'aimes." Eagle said, cheekily. He turned to Cub. "Ça va? La leçon était probablement ennuyeux pour toi, oui?"

And to Lynx's surprise, Cub responded in French.

"C'était bien." It was only two words but there was barely any accent.

"Vous pouvez parler en français?" Lynx asked.

"Oui."

"Pourquoi vous n'avez pas dit?"

Cub only shrugged in response.

"Alright, alright," Wolf cut in before anyone could say anything else. "We've got training to do; you can save the chatter for later."

Eagle grumbled a bit, but he and the rest of the unit split themselves into two groups – Wolf, Eagle, Lynx and Cub with Snake – and the first group set off. Snake kept an eye on the timer.

Minutes later, the three were back, panting. "Wolf, eleven thirty-four; Eagle, eleven thirty-eight; Lynx, eleven forty-two." Snake informed them before handing the timer over and jogging to the starting point himself. Cub followed silently.

"Three…two…one…go!" The second group set off.

Like the others, the two came back out of breath. "Eleven forty for Snake, and…eleven forty-one for Cub." Eagle grinned and clapped him on the back. "Not bad, kid!"

Cub didn't stumble when Eagle's hand made contact – Lynx had to admire that; Eagle hit _hard_ – but he gave a small jerk and his eyes narrowed as if in pain. Lynx frowned and met Snake's gaze. He'd noticed too. The medic was always extremely observant when it came to things like injuries.

They silently resolved to discuss this later.

* * *

"Right," Wolf took charge again, "let's go down to the shooting range now. We have a slot booked and it wouldn't hurt to check our proficiency."

They arrived at the shooting range and, comme d'habitude, went directly to get themselves a gun each. Cub, not entirely sure what to do, followed their example. He was looking over the selection of guns when Wolf approached him.

"Forgot to mention," he said gruffly, "The sarge said something about you being spec ops so you can choose something more suited for undercover work."

Cub raised an eyebrow. The heads never even gave him a gun on missions, yet they give special instructions regarding this particular aspect of training? Odd. But he nodded anyway and turned his attention to smaller handguns.

The others had already taken their pick and were checking the weapons over. He quickly made a choice, as well, and began to disassemble it. His hands flew over each piece with practiced ease and by the time he finished reassembling and looked up, the others were staring.

"That's pretty darn quick," Eagle said. Even Wolf nodded, slightly impressed.

"Well, let's see how good you are in actual shooting."

The five members of K-unit approached the range, each taking a lane and slipping on a pair of earmuffs. A few seconds later, each soldier was lost in their own world, all eyes focussed on paper targets.

* * *

"Ha!" Eagle shouted in triumph, comparing scores with Lynx. "Nothing changes, eh?"

Lynx sighed in reply. "Why do we even bother? There's a reason they called _Eagle_, Mister Sharpshooter!"

The team had finished their shooting exercises and, as was customary, were comparing the results. The targets were brought in and once again, Eagle was unbeatable with nearly all holes in or near the centre. He never lost the chance to gloat.

"We get it!" Wolf and Snake had to exclaim when Eagle turned his gaze on them. He pouted, looking much like an overgrown child.

"I think Cub has a much better chance pulling off that look, Eagle," Lynx quipped with a snigger. "And speaking of, how'd you do, Cub?"

The MI6 agent was cleaning his weapon and he glanced up at Lynx's question. He shrugged. "Okay."

"Let's see 'em." Eagle bounded over and snatched up Cub's targets. He froze. "Damn…"

At his awed expression, the rest of the unit hurried over to see what could impress even the best sharpshooter in the camp. They looked down and found themselves similarly stunned. Alex was doing his best to keep his discomfort from showing on his face.

Each ring of the target was outlined in neat dots and one slightly bigger clump marked the middle. It looked a bit like a little flower. It was all incredibly precise.

"You are _really _good." Eagle sounded quite humbled, but he bounced back in the way only Eagle could. "Think of all the bragging rights!" he crowed. "Ha, we got another one over the others!"

And so Eagle was off on another one of his rapid-fire, continuous talking episodes, somehow engaging Wolf in an argument about who-knows-what. Cub had long since found an opportunity to escape.

Snake and Lynx exchanged a look, unaffected by this childish behaviour. Eagle had managed to create a distraction but K-unit had developed something of an immunity to Eagle's behaviour. Snake picked up Cub's shooting results and raised an eyebrow at Lynx.

"About time we had a bit of K-unit bonding time, hmm?"

Lynx tipped his head in agreement.


	6. Chapter 6: Bad Ideas

_*** Once again, if this is the first time reading this story, please don't keep reading until the next chapter has been rewritten. The plot is a bit different than the original. All the rewritten chapters will have chapter titles, and I'll also be updating the summary so you know.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 6: Bad Ideas and Hand-to-Hand Combat**_

* * *

_Slam!_

Silence.

More silence.

And…silence.

Then, "So, what is it that had to wait 'till Cub was out?" Straight to the point; classic Wolf style. All eyes fell on Lynx and Snake.

"Well…it's about Cub." Lynx ventured.

"No shit!" Eagle just had to exclaim. He received impatient looks from three pairs of eyes.

"Well…" Lynx began again. "We're just curious really. Cub's really…well, really something isn't he?" It was exceptionally difficult to express this particular thought in words so it was fortunate, therefore, that the difficulty of expression was indeed the thought to be expressed.

"Yes. I mean, he's a spy, obviously, and they're all bloody mysterious…" Snake said thoughtfully and Lynx continued his train of thought.

"There's just something about him that makes me feel all…I dunno for sure. Kind of like…like..ah! How do I put this? He's really young looking, I'm sure you've all noticed…and…and…"

Wolf snorted as he watched Lynx struggle for words.

"Please tell me this isn't going to be a discussion about your emotions or relationships or some crap like that. Never figured you batted for the other team, Lynx." The soldier's face had turned redder than a tomato.

"God, no!" he sputtered indignantly. "No! Okay, I started off weird. Restart. It's just…me and Snake have noticed some stuff about Cub and we thought we might as well say something. It's 'bout time."

Snake nodded. "Cub's an MI6 agent, yeah? He just shows up one day and even the sarge doesn't know anything about him. We don't have any info, we don't even know why he's here. He's obviously good at what he does so why isn't he on some mission or whatever? And there's the fact that he looks really young, but that's probably a minor detail."

"…Okay," Wolf said slowly. He had to admit, the way Snake put the whole thing had caught his interest. He really didn't like being kept in the dark about anything. And it was most certainly irritating when the information was being withheld when he, and the rest of the unit, was directly involved. "You're right, we know next to nothing about this guy. There's got to be a reason he's here and why the heads aren't giving any info. We've worked with other organizations before and we've always had _something _to go on, at least."

Even Eagle had stopped fidgeting in favor of listening carefully. "So, guys, let's start with what we do know about Cub, shall we?"

"Well, if we start with the very basics, he's a British guy with blond hair, dark eyes. Six feet at least, slim built," Snake started off.

Wolf followed up. "Code named Cub, works for MI6. Decent stamina and strength. I'd say he's pretty fast and he's damn good with a gun."

"He doesn't talk much but he has wit, from what we saw with Shark. Good reflexes. He's learning Arabic but he knows French well and who knows which other languages," Lynx added. "I asked him why he didn't say anything about the French but he avoided the question. Not sure if there's any particular reason for that."

"It's hard to tell with them spying types," Snake said. He shot a look at Lynx. "We saw him rubbing his chest after the swimming yesterday. It might be some kind of injury. I'll have to find out; it might be dangerous for him to do anything too strenuous…" He trailed off, the medic in him caught up on this fact that he neglected to consider. Then he remembered something else.

It felt a bit too personal to say, though, and this prompted something of a heated internal debate. Snake begin to squirm slightly where he sat, a sort of guilty look on his face. His dilemma wasn't nearly as discrete as he'd hoped.

"Anything more?" Wolf prompted the field medic.

"Ah, well…" Snake was still indecisive about whether to reveal this particular discovery. It made him feel like he was betraying Cub's trust, even though the spy had never shown any sign of trust anyway. He shook his head resolutely and continued. This could be helpful. They could only help him if they knew what the problem was. At least, that's what Snake told himself defensively.

"I woke up in the middle of a night for a drink and I looked over and he was having a nightmare. I didn't notice at first, but I could tell it was pretty bad."

Lynx frowned. Nightmares? Unbidden, he sensed something welling up, suspiciously like the irrational "big brother" feelings he had felt once before. Cub sure knew how to trigger the strangest emotions.

"You don't think…maybe he was sent here for recovery or something, do you? If he's having nightmares…well, he's a spy so there's always the possibility of psychological problems."

Wolf frowned. "It's possible, but that can't be the reason Cub's here. This is an SAS training camp, not a counselling office. '6 could've just sent him to a therapist or something."

"True," Eagle agreed. "Okay, so we all know that we don't know anything about this Cub 2.0. Now, what do we want to do about it?"

He'd hit the main point of this whole meeting. The K-unit members looked at each other.

"What _can_ we do?" Wolf grunt-asked. "He's a bloody spy! It's their job to know how to avoid questioning."

"We can make him our pal!" Eagle suggested, excited. "We tell each other stuff, right? If he's one of us, he'll tell us stuff, too!"

"_Brilliant_, Eagle," said Wolf, unimpressed. "Okay, Snake. You've got a ready-made excuse. Just go all mother-hen on him about any injuries he might have and then you can try asking about other stuff while you're at it."

Snake nodded, a bit doubtful, but Lynx interjected before he could comment on the idea.

"Actually. Eagle's idea isn't so bad. If he trusts us, he probably wouldn't mind indulging us."

Wolf gave him an incredulous stare. "Alright, you can go ahead and test that theory. He may be strange, but, I'll say it again, he's a _spy_. You'll need all the luck you can get – the guy's about as friendly as a brick."

Lynx rolled his eyes. "He's not that bad –"

Right at that moment, the door swung open again and a figure slipped quietly into the room. Cub was back, a damp towel slung over his shoulder.

He seemed to cotton on to the strange atmosphere in the room, because he tensed marginally. Wary eyes took in the way the men were angled towards each other, as if having a conversation. Which was exactly what was going on.

There was a moment of drawn out silence, before –

"Cub! You're back!" Eagle cried heartily, earning himself intense glares from the rest of the unit and a painful elbow jab from Lynx who was groaning internally. Way to go for subtlety!

Cub was giving Eagle an alarmed kind of look at his enthusiasm, which looked out of place on his normally emotionless face. It was gone in an instant.

He simply put his things away, got out a book and began reading it, his back to the wall. Not a glance did he spare K-unit.

Said soldiers looked at each other, lost now that the subject of their frustrated curiosity was present. They silently agreed that figuring out this mystery was going to be their goal for the next few days. Not like they had anything better to do besides training their arses off.

* * *

"So, Cub, did you get a good night's sleep?" Lynx winced. He was layering it on too thick at the moment. This really wasn't his specialty, but he was determined to prove Wolf wrong about Cub. There was something there.

"We have a tough day ahead!" Ugh, still too much.

Meanwhile, Alex was thinking hard. Lynx had been nice to him since the first night, but he was trying a lot harder to befriend him recently. Alex wasn't sure what he wanted from him. Especially with Eagle's outburst the other night…it was obvious that they were up to something, and Alex had a vague idea.

…Okay, maybe he knew exactly what they were trying to achieve, Alex just wasn't sure how to counter this new approach.

One thing for sure though, was that he would _not_ tell them anything. They were practically strangers; people who were perfectly capable of tearing apart his secrets just for their own entertainment. And he had had enough of being pushed around.

Alex was afraid. Afraid of being taken advantage of, afraid of the lies that always led to hurt. They only way to avoid all that was to close himself off. Make sure no one could be used against him. He had no family left and he wasn't about to make friends just so they could be killed in front of him.

No, he would not put any more people in danger, never again. Not after Jack.

He snapped out of his reverie just in time to step into the mess hall. Following the unit, he stepped into line for his breakfast. As usual, a plate of deformed edibles was thrust towards him, and as usual, Alex turned towards the K-unit's table and took his spot at the end.

Unfortunately for him, Lynx was unrelenting. He took a seat right next to Alex and began talking at him.

"We're lucky it's not raining today, what do you normally eat for breakfast? We're going to have to run the assault course again. You should probably eat more. We have a bit of combat training later, too."

Alex did his best to ignore him. He was succeeding, too, until Lynx's questions got more personal.

"Anyone at home? Wife? Nah, you look too young. Girlfriend? Do your folks know what you do? I'm not sure how the whole spying thing works. I knew my bro was an agent 'cause I was army and it was a coincidence, really. Are you allowed to tell?"

Lynx faltered a bit at the cold stare he received. He felt like it was piercing straight through him. If looks could kill…

"Sorry," he muttered quickly. He chanced a sideways peek at Cub. There were no other outward symptoms of anger except he was stabbing at his food a bit harder than necessary. Lynx took a deep breath and tried again, cautiously.

"I really am sorry," he began. "I'm just trying to understand –"

Cub turned sharply towards him, cutting him off.

"Why? Why would you want to _understand?_" he hissed angrily. Lynx could only sit there, wide-eyed. "We don't know each other, we probably won't – ever. You don't actually care so stop wasting your breath." _Stop making this harder than it needs to be!_

"Cub, that's not – !"

"Don't try to deny it. You soldiers are all the same."

K-unit watched as the blond stood up and stalked away.

"That went well."

Snake elbowed Eagle in the gut, adding, "Never seen him so worked up before."

Wolf gave Lynx a look that only served to irritate him more, amplifying his sense of failure.

"See? He's hopeless."

Lynx shook his head.

"No, I – I don't think so. I'm going to keep trying." He tried to keep the doubt out of his voice.

"Come on, you're not going to get anywhere with that. We'd sooner beat the answers out of him!"

The K-unit leader raised his hands in a surrender position at Lynx's glare. "Fine, do what you like. Meanwhile, we'll see if Snake can get anything out of our resident spy."

* * *

Standing on the edge of the mat, Lynx looked around apprehensively. They were in the combat training hall preparing for a bit of hand-to-hand.

After the outburst at breakfast, Lynx had been trying to gauge Cub's emotions all day. Needless to say, that was not an easy task. He didn't get any results, either. The spy had firmly replaced his spy mask of ultimate emotional detachment and Lynx couldn't get a single hint of what he may have been thinking.

Cub was a lot quieter than usual, barely speaking unless spoken to. And even then, he only shrugged or shook his head in response to any questions. Snake hadn't been able to get a word in about injuries, let alone a whole conversation. Guiltily, Lynx knew if he hadn't crossed the line this morning, there would've been more progress.

Wolf's call to attention broke Lynx out of his thoughts.

"Alright! We have an uneven number here so we'll just have to take turns," he said. "Cub can observe first since he's never fought with any of us. Lynx and Eagle, Snake with me. Go!"

They took their positions on the mat. Lynx, out of the corner of his eye, watched Cub slink into the shadows, watching them all with a gaze that didn't miss anything.

They began.

Lynx and Eagle were quite evenly matched, each with a black belt in a martial art. They danced around each other throwing in punches here and there, jumping over a sweep of a leg. Their match ended without anything dramatic.

The other pair was about the same, except Wolf's victory over Snake was more obvious than the Lynx's over Eagle. Wolf was a powerful fighter, and while Snake was more agile because of his build, he couldn't hope to compete once Wolf caught him in a headlock.

The unit rotated without any further words, having done this often. Eagle took Snake's place and Snake stepped off the mat, motioning for Cub to take his turn. He walked over without a fuss and stood before Lynx, pausing a moment before assuming a ready stance.

Mirroring his position, Lynx hoped that Cub wasn't plotting revenge for the breakfast incident. He didn't seem like the type, but who knew?

"Begin!" Wolf shouted.

The two circled around each other, trying to find an opening. Lynx met Cub's calculating gaze and decided to take the offensive. He sprang into action, hoping to catch the spy off guard but his jab was easily blocked. He continued his assault.

Minutes passed and the fight was getting nowhere. Cub danced out of reach whenever Lynx thought he had him, deflecting any blow with practiced fluidity.

Lynx prided himself on being able to think under pressure. He wasn't overly muscled – a powerhouse like Wolf was – so he often had to use his wit against stronger opponents. Like Snake, he was more agile and he didn't hesitate to use that to his advantage. The only problem was Cub happened to be even more quick and flexible than he.

Twice he found himself on his back, only just summoning up the strength to get back up to block the next attack. Disgruntled, he realized Cub was probably slowing down on purpose – if he went all out, Lynx doubted he'd be able to get back up again at all. At any rate, it looked like he wouldn't be able to anyway in a couple more seconds. Cub seemed to have the uncanny ability to predict his moves a split-second before he executed them.

Sure enough, he was sent sprawling again. But this time, he managed to catch Cub on the chest with a foot. From his spot on the ground, he held up a hand to signal his surrender.

He frowned, though, when he sat up. Throughout the fight, he did get a few hits in, but Cub had never shown any sign of slowing down as a result. Now, he was holding himself rigidly, his breath slightly more laboured than it had been a moment before.

"You alright?" he questioned as Cub walked off the mat. His movements were less graceful, more jerkily but only subtly. Lynx only noticed because he'd been watching closely.

He followed Cub to his corner where he was pulling on his boots. Last minute, he decided against putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey."

"I'm fine," Cub said shortly. His tone left no room for argument, but Lynx pressed on, determined to get somewhere this time.

"I saw you. A second ago, you were fine, but after I accidently landed a kick on your chest, you went a bit white. I – me and Snake both saw you rubbing your chest that time at the lake. If you have an injury, you need to tell us."

The unit had gathered around, attracted by the one-sided dialogue. Unnoticed, the room had gone rather silent.

"_I'm fine,"_ Cub repeated, attempting to push past the makeshift wall of SAS soldier. They held their ground and Snake extended an arm to prevent him from leaving.

"As K-unit's medic, it's important that I, at least, know about any injuries that are potentially debilitating," Snake stated firmly. "You're not leaving until you tell me. There should've been a physical anyway – we all had one. You missed it by a couple days."

It must have been a record: the most times Cub ever showed emotion in one day. He was scowling heavily at them, clearly unwilling to divulge any form of weakness to the men who once made an effort to torment him. But they didn't know that.

Still, it didn't look like he had much choice.

"At least tell us about the chest injury, because there has to be one," Snake tried compromising.

Alex decided it was better than everything. He reluctantly pulled down his collar, just enough to expose the puckered scar resting on his chest.

K-unit stared. Cub glared back at them.

"Happy now?"

Eagle started stuttering, "Tha – that's right over your –"

Snake interrupted him, his medic training settling in. "How old is it? You have medication, I presume?"

A curt nod. "It's two years old, nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to – _nothing to worry about?_ How on earth are you still _alive?"_ Eagle was never one for tact, as anyone who knew him for more than ten minutes would discover.

The shirt had been quickly tugged back into position and now, Cub stood with his arms crossed.

"You've had your fun. I think I'll leave now."

No one hindered his exit this time and he was gone before Lynx could blink.

"Well, we found out something," Wolf muttered. Except the unit couldn't help feeling there were even _more_ questions, rather than less.

"There are more."

Snake's tone held conviction and no one bothered voicing their agreement. Once again K-unit was left standing in the wake of Cub's existence, feeling as though they'd taken steps backwards instead of the other way around.

They all sighed internally. Patience was a virtue, and they would need a lot of it if they wanted to get any answers at all.

* * *

**Reviews are awfully effective motivators to write things...**


	7. Chapter 7: Take a Step

_****_***I've decided to delete the original chapters, as you may have noticed, since people kept reading ahead. Not sure why I didn't do that in the first place. Hmmm. **

* * *

_**Chapter 7: Take a Step**_

* * *

Almost a week had passed without any more progress on the "Cub Front", as it had been dubbed.

Reflecting after the confrontation in the combat hall, K-unit realized they had pretty much shown their hand there and Cub was now avoiding them like the plague. None of them had been stupid enough to believe that Cub never had a clue as to what they were planning in the first place, but now that the idea was out in the open, nothing was covert any longer.

Normally, spies were supposed to blend in naturally with the crowd, yet Cub apparently wasn't at all averse to remaining the outsider. He blatantly ignored anyone who tried to engage him in conversation, although, to be fair, not many did. Only K-unit still made any effort at all and it was like trying to catch a ghost with a net. Aside from the exercises they had to do together, Cub always found ways to be where ever K-unit wasn't.

Lynx reasoned that Cub knew they would have plenty of questions to ask, especially after revealing the bullet scar right above his heart. The implications of that old wound made K-unit see Cub in a whole new light.

They already knew he was good, but for him to warrant an assassination attempt, he must've have done something truly impressive. And then there were the medical mysteries that tied in with that.

Snake, despite all his pestering, didn't find out any other details besides the fact that the wound was two years old. He had told the others, befuddled, that it was virtually impossible for adults to survive such a traumatic injury. Even if it were a younger person, their chances wouldn't be great…and, well, children just _didn't_ get shot in the chest.

Whatever the circumstances were that caused such an injury, it was not one to be taken lightly. Snake was now constantly on his guard. Not that he had any opportunity to mother the elusive Cub.

In the meantime, K-unit resumed a well-practiced tradition: trying to find the most creative ways to while away the monotony. Wolf had grudgingly admitted that Eagle was quite useful in terms of providing entertainment, unless of course his pranks and tricks were targeted at him.

Fortunately for Eagle, he had a good enough sense of self-preservation that he avoided antagonizing their almighty unit leader. The whole unit (read: K-unit minus Cub) had good laughs watching the other units' outraged expressions…from a distance. Lynx, for one, never found any guilt in tossing Eagle to the sharks whenever his most recent victims came searching for retribution. They all agreed it was a whole other show, watching Eagle run with a mob of angry SAS men hot on his heel.

One would think this behaviour would be frowned down upon – what would people think if they saw Britain's elite engaged in such childish games? – but there were never any consequences. The soldiers had a sneaking sensation that even the sergeant found the whole thing extremely funny; he certainly hadn't done anything about it, from the instances he'd been seen watching an escapade.

And strangely enough, it was one of these incidences that finally got Cub to utter anything other than reluctant monosyllable answers.

K-units resident prankster had somehow rigged up a device that suspended buckets along the rafters of D-unit's barrack. When they opened the door, the unlucky Muskrat, the first one through, was doused in icy lake water. The other three had laughed at him until they all stepped in and flicked on the light. The rest of the buckets were upturned on them. Naturally, Lynx, the tech expert, had nothing to do with this particular trick. Nothing _at all_.

Lynx gave Eagle a cheeky wave and a wink as he dashed past with the entirety of D-unit after his blood. It was at this moment that Wolf decided to make an appearance.

He stopped at Lynx's side, both of them standing in front of their barrack, and sighed in exasperation when the source of the commotion was identified.

"What'd he do this time?"

"The classic bucket full of water over the doorway trick."

"Ah." There was a pause in which Wolf turned to give his teammate a speculative look.

"You know…I swear I saw you fiddling with a bunch of wires the other day. You don't happen to –"

"Dunno what you're talking about, captain," Lynx broke in quickly, cutting off Wolf's sentence with a grin. Then he spotted a distraction.

"Oh, hey look! It's Cub." Indeed the blond was heading their way, coming from the direction of the woods.

Wolf and Lynx watched as Cub's sharp gaze take in the strange situation, although to the others, it wasn't strange at all. Cub's expression didn't change in the slightest but he did stop for a second before continuing on his path.

That was, until Eagle spotted him as well and bolted straight for him.

Bemused, the two K-unit teammates saw Eagle duck behind the slightly shorter blond and yell, "Save me, Cub! They're gonna eat me!"

The spy actually looked like he wanted to laugh. He then said something that had Wolf and Lynx raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sure you're very tasty." He sidestepped, allowing Coyote to barrel into the crouching Eagle, smirking at the expression of mock-betrayal on his unit member's face.

"No! I thought you were my friend!" Eagle cried, reaching out a hand dramatically at the spy. Cub rolled his eyes and was about to make some sort of retort when he suddenly paused, shrinking back into himself and striding away without another word.

Eagle, with D-unit still piled on top of him, looked slightly crestfallen. Gaze still fixed on Cub's retreating back, Lynx was sure he felt the same way. It was like that feeling when something almost succeeds, and then falls short by only a millimetre. Still, Lynx felt hopeful that they were finally getting somewhere, that Cub was finally starting to relax. Judging by Wolf's thoughtful features, perhaps he was beginning to rethink his impression about the MI6 agent, too.

But the next two days passed and Lynx's eager observation of his unit's unorthodox fifth member yielded no signs of change and his hope began to wane again.

It would be another while before anything else happened, and it would not be what Lynx hoped for.

* * *

The cabin was lit dimly by the afternoon light streaming through the windows.

Alex repressed a sigh of irritation as a roar of laughter exploded behind him. It was quite common in the past half hour – the last few days, in fact. Eagle had finally run out of ideas for his pranks and the unit had resorted to playing poker in their spare time. They were unbelievably loud.

In the beginning, they kept trying to get him to play with them so the young spy had taken to staying outside as late as possible, only returning in the evening at their unspoken curfew. He was only present this time because he couldn't summon up the energy to move. Late nights spent avoiding the unit had slowly taken their toll and after a morning of endurance exercises, Alex was exhausted. Not that Alex would be getting any sleep now.

They'd started playing quite early today which was unexpected. Alex had settled down with his book when the men had piled in and took their seats around the little table. At least they didn't ask him to join – he'd turned his back pointedly. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea if he wanted to maintain his "older than he appeared" image, but it got the point across.

His thoughts were scattered once again as another wave of indignant shouts graced his ears. He was tired, but he'd probably get more rest if he went outside and lay on the damp grass. The idea was honestly sounding better and better by every second.

"Fuck you, Snake! Mine is obviously bigger!" Came Eagle's peeved interjections. Instantly, the others started teasing him for the implications of that statement.

Alex made up his mind as Snake – who was surprisingly good at poker – made his serene retort over Wolf's guffaws.

Swinging his legs off his bunk, Alex snatched up his book as an afterthought. There were still a couple hours before it truly got dark. He ignored the discreet looks that followed his movements, closing the door quietly.

The sky was overcast, as always, and it looked as though there was a slight chance of rain, but not much more than usual. The sun still filtered through, relatively bright. After a moment's consideration, he headed off in the direction of the forest.

Passing by an obstacle course, he watched the soldiers in his peripheral vision. No one stopped to stare at him anymore, for which he was grateful. The first few days at the camp made him feel exceptionally paranoid with everyone stealing glances at him whenever he was in the vicinity. He made himself scarce and the soldiers got over the novelty.

A few more minutes of walking and he exhaled, destination in sight. It was a rare tranquil location when it wasn't being used for some training exercise and he often found himself gravitating towards the comfort of the trees. However, it wasn't turning out to be a very lucky day for the spy – he would not find any peace here this time.

He's only just within arm's reach of the nearest tree trunk when a familiar face came over the small hill nearby.

It was Shark, the soldier had tried to "put him in his place" on that first morning in the mess hall. The instant he caught sight of Alex was obvious from the way his mouth twisted into a sneer. He clearly hadn't forgotten the humiliation he suffered at Alex's hands.

He made a beeline for Alex, his hulking figure hostile. There was no doubt in Alex's mind what Shark's purpose was. He braced himself mentally and assumed an indifferent stance that was anything but relaxed.

"Hey, you!"

How very original. Alex said nothing as Shark approached, coming to a stop before him.

"If I recall, we have a score to settle."

"I'm afraid it must've slipped my mind. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"He speaks!" mocked Shark, his face morphed with an ugly smirk. "I feel _so_ honoured. Why don't I refresh your memory, hmm?"

Alex dodged the first punch that was aiming for his face and blocked the second one with his forearm. There was nobody around to witness the fight and Shark, having realized this, wasn't holding back at all; Alex could feel the bruise forming and that wasn't the least of his worries.

The soldier was clearly a very good fighter, his strength giving him an advantage. It seemed like he knew quite a few martial arts, too, going by the variety that Alex was able to pick out in only the first minutes of the assault. With all his experience, Shark wasn't the most difficult opponent Alex had come across, but it was taking most of his concentration to keep up.

Despite this, Alex still had to reign in some of his instincts that screamed at him to go for the kill. There were a couple instances where he'd spotted holes in Shark's defense, except the only ways to take advantage of them would cause serious if not fatal injuries. And so the fight dragged on. Alex could feel himself wearing down. He was already tired and more and more hits began finding their mark.

Sensing his fatigue, Shark attacked more viciously, face adorned with a savage grin.

"Not so cocky any more, are ya?" he taunted. "I knew you were nothing special! Don't know why everyone was going on and on about you!"

His fist caught Alex on the side of his head, and he stumbled, black spots popping in his vision. Taking advantage of his disorientation, Shark clamped a muscular arm around his neck in a chokehold, steadily cutting off his air supply.

Alex struggled, more and more desperate as it became harder and harder to breathe.

"Ha, got you now." Shark panted.

"_Don't struggle. You know it's useless. There's no one to help you now." _

His eyes snapped open wide as memories crashed over him, transporting him back to a time he'd rather forget.

"No…"

"_Where are your friends now, Alex Rider? Will they cry when you finally break? Will they miss you when you're gone?"_

He was drowning. He couldn't see. Frantically, he tried to shout but he couldn't find his voice.

"_Oh, wait! You don't have anyone left, do you? Poor little Alex, all alone in the big bad world. Just tell us what we want and we'll end your suffering. Come now, don't be so stubborn." _

How long had he been stuck in that cold, dank place? Any sense of time had blurred so that it was all one continuous nightmare filled with pain and fear. The only thing that kept him fighting was…was…

What was it? What was he fighting for?

Oh, yes.

He had the knowledge that would keep hundreds, thousands from certain death. What was one life's worth, compared to all of them? He would suffer another day so that families wouldn't suffer the pain of loss for a lifetime.

He had to escape. That was important.

"_Given up yet, boy?"_

"_No!"_

He heard his own voice in his head and he struck out with all his strength in one last act of defiance. The dark room disappeared, replaced by the greens and browns of reality.

Shark, having felt the spy go slack in his arms, was caught by surprise by the feet thrust into his own thighs. Howling in pain, he crumpled and a fist caught him in the jaw, sending him sprawling.

Alex lay where he was dropped, clutching his throat and gasping for breath. Not completely back in complete awareness, all his instincts were hypersensitive. He was still breathing deeply when he felt a presence looming behind him. Without a second thought, he attacked, adrenaline masking any pain or tiredness. Shark never stood a chance.

When Alex next blinked, his attacker was on the ground groaning in agony.

"Shit!" He'd gone overboard. The curse barely made it out of his mouth when a new set of problems came over the little hill. B-unit had finally caught up with their teammate.

Groaning, Alex let himself slump against bark as his heart rate slowed, leaving him drained. But he was shown no mercy as Shark's unit gathered around.

Someone – _Hawk_, his worn out mind supplied – pulled him up by the collar and slammed him against the tree that had been his support.

"What did you do to him?" the soldier ground out, incensed. It made sense – Hawk was the unit leader and he was responsible for his teammates' safety.

Alex merely shook his head, not bothering to explain. Not like they were going to listen to him anyway. They were obviously going to shield their teammate from any trouble. It was their words against his. A respectable SAS unit in an SAS camp against an MI6 agent who didn't belong there. Who would care if he had a few bruises to back his story?

He wiped a trickle of blood off his temple and resigned himself to the inevitable outcome.

* * *

Everything was pretty much playing out as Alex had predicted. Shark was taken to the infirmary by his livid teammates and said teammates then proceeded to manhandle Alex to the sergeant's office. Hawk didn't let go of his arm until they were through the door, dragging Alex behind him the entire way, never mind that Alex wasn't resisting at all.

To Alex's displeasure, even though it was expected, K-unit was called down. The situation was currently being explained by the B-unit leader and Wolf's face got steadily redder in anger. It was a small mercy that he wouldn't do anything right in front of the sergeant.

When Alex was asked for his version of events, he gave another shrug.

"What's there to tell? We had a fight," he intoned dully.

"And who started the fight?"

Looking the sergeant squarely in the eye, Alex replied, "Doesn't make a difference, sir. I know how this works; there weren't any witnesses."

Throughout the whole ordeal, it was the sergeant's reactions that surprised Alex the most. He fully expected him to blow up in his face and dish out the harshest punishment that existed in the first five minutes, yet he was suspiciously calm. He wore an expression of great displeasure, but it didn't seem to be directed completely at him.

Alex's nonchalant attitude served to further anger Wolf, but the sergeant didn't comment on it, which went against Alex's previous dealings with him. Two years ago, he made every effort to kick the teenage Cub out.

The sergeant spoke at last, after a confusing silence.

"A week of kitchen duty. Wolf, he's part of your unit – any further discipline is your responsibility." Wolf stiffened, but no more remarks were directed at him. The sergeant waved a hand in a shooing motion. "Dismissed."

"Yes, sir."

Walking out of the office first, Alex could hear disgruntled mutterings behind him. The B-unit members were most likely shooting him murderous glares for getting off with such a light punishment.

Closer footsteps indicated that his own unit was right at his heel. No one uttered a word until the barracks came into sight.

"_What was that all about?_" Wolf exploded, clamping a hand onto Alex's shoulder. He fought off the violent impulse to throw it off.

"Wolf…" Eagle muttered warningly. It went unnoticed.

"You put another soldier in the infirmary! This is a training camp! You think you can come here, all high and mighty, and do whatever the _hell _you want?" The K-unit leader jabbed a finger at Alex's chest. Night had fallen, throwing Wolf's face into shadow, making him seem more threatening.

"Actually, I don't care what you do, but you do _not_ bring down_ my_ unit's reputation,_ got it? _You are part of this unit now, and trust me, no one asked for it. I better not hear one word against us because of _you!" _

Wolf slammed the door of the barrack behind him.

"Wolf!" The three remaining hurried after their leader. Lynx paused long enough to give Alex something of an apologetic glance.

The door slammed for the second time and Alex was left standing in the dark.

This was what he wanted, what he'd hoped for, wasn't it? Wolf was furious with him and surely the others would follow his example. He'd went out of his way to make sure no one would want to befriend him and now it looked more unlikely than ever.

So, why couldn't he get rid of that lump in his throat?

He sat down next to the door with his back against the barrack wall, trying to straighten out his thoughts. It would be a while before he went inside.

And when the next morning came, Alex would regret not taking the chance to catch a few more hours of sleep. The days to follow would afford him little time to rest.

* * *

**Next time: **_**Turning Point**_

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**Thanks for reading, see you next chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8: Turning Point

**A/N: Well. That took longer than expected. And thank all of you who reviewed or favourited. Makes an author happy :)**

* * *

_**Chapter 8: Turning Point**_

* * *

The rustling of fabric dragged Alex out of his uneasy sleep. He hadn't gone to bed until well past midnight and even when he did manage to drift off, memories of terror and pain sabotaged his dreams relentlessly. It wasn't anything new, but it was particularly bad this time. The four hours of sleep might as well have been four minutes for all the good it did him. He felt like someone had taken a shovel and rammed his head with it, repeatedly.

Blinking groggily and suppressing the urge to groan, he saw that the others were already awake and getting dressed. That was a new experience. Usually, he was awake early enough to have never witnessed K-unit's daily morning rituals.

Snake was trying to pull on a sock, hopping around on one foot. He swore when he crashed into a bed corner, taking a half-hearted swipe at Lynx who was smirking at him.

Lynx and Wolf were both calmly assembling their outfits without fuss. They were the only two that looked truly awake and not overly put out by the early hour. Alex had to raise an eyebrow. He wouldn't have thought, out of all of them, that Wolf would've been a morning person. In fact, he would've put his money on Eagle to be the first to greet the rising sun with a cheerful wave and a smile. Said soldier was currently lumbering around like a zombie.

Alex really hadn't noticed any of these things despite the number of days he'd been in their presence. Then again, quite the opposite of observing them, he had been employing all the skills he'd picked up as a spy to avoid them, and ignoring when he couldn't.

Dislodging this train of thought, Alex pulled himself from his cot reluctantly and bent down for his clothes. He dropped them again the next second when someone practically tripped over him.

"_Holy shit!_"

Bemused, Alex lifted his head to catch the sight of Lynx regaining his balance and staring at him in blatant shock. Lynx's yell had attracted the attention of the rest of the unit and the two found themselves in the spotlight.

"Sorry," Lynx apologized sheepishly. Feeling the need to explain himself, he added, "You're usually gone by the time we get our lazy arses out of bed; I didn't expect you to still be here. This is certainly a new experience."

Eagle, still looking a bit bleary, slurred out, "Damn right. How the hell do you always get up so early, Cub? That name doesn't suit you at all! Aren't you young'uns supposed to be all in favour of sleeping in?"

His reply was a chortle from Snake. "My, my, are we feeling old today, buddy? Cub can't be that much younger than you, or at least the rest of us."

"Hey! You're calling _me_ old? You're older than me!" Eagle sniped back, disgruntled. "And anyway, Cub has got to be the youngest here. Look at him! No way he's older than any of us. Right, Cub?"

He thumped the spy on the back good-naturedly, but Cub jerked violently away. A pained wince crossed his face for only a split second but no one could possibly have missed it.

Eagle's grin faded. The soldiers shot each other knowing looks.

"Cub?" inquired Lynx.

The blond didn't reply. Snake frowned.

"Cub, you know it's my duty to make sure –" A terse reply cut him off.

"Don't bother. I'm fine."

Throughout all the activity, Wolf had yet to say a word, merely watching from the sidelines. His face was the picture of indifference – he had plenty of practice playing poker – but anyone who knew him well would see the subtle signs that indicated a troubled mind.

Truth be told, he had been plagued with a stubborn bought of guilt from the moment sleep left him. The cause was none other than the events of the previous day.

Contrary to first impressions, the leader of K-unit was actually quite amiable in the mornings and had no problem getting out of bed at deity-forsaken hours. It didn't take long for his brain to start functioning and the more he thought back to his actions last night, the shittier he felt.

He was used to being in control, used to knowing what he was up against. Cub was hardly an enemy, but it was like he was made of nothing but unknowns – like he existed just to annoy the heck out of Wolf. It was like having a blind spot in familiar territory and it made Wolf very nervous.

No one knew why Cub was here, who he was and the extent of his abilities. Wolf knew they were supposed to be on the same side, but then again, this Cub was a spy. His job was to spy on people for money, for heaven's sake. The possibility of threat to the unit Wolf was responsible for drove him to act but weeks of tiptoeing around had resulted in almost nothing useful.

They, the unit, would get to the edge, but then just when they thought they would finally learn something, they would be thwarted. The frustration built up and had overflowed. Coupled with being faced with the sergeant's scowl and B-unit's glares for something he, or any of his teammates, hadn't done, his temper had risen easily. And Cub hadn't looked like he cared at all for the consequences.

Still, Cub hadn't deserved the harsh words that Wolf spat in his direction without thought. He just said whatever was at the tip of his tongue, without any filtering. Technically, Cub _was_ part of his unit now, although Wolf wasn't sure whether or not that fact had sunk in for all of them. Either way, it certainly didn't improve their relations and even Wolf knew it was better to keep the peace, especially since they had to pretty much live together for a length of time.

And from the moment this Cub had appeared at the door of their cabin, Wolf had gained a nagging feeling in the back of his brain, an elusive thought that he couldn't pinpoint. He wanted to find out exactly what it was that drew his attention whenever Cub stepped into the room.

There was nothing for it; he'd have to man up and make amends. He took a step closer.

"Look…er, Cub." The addressed didn't give any sign of acknowledgement. Wolf plowed on. "About last night. The whole thing with Shark."

At this point, his unit was giving him incredulous looks. Wolf shot them a glare – _shut the fuck up_ – and continued.

"I lost my conduct and said a lot of stuff I didn't mean." A deep breath. "I apologize."

Even Cub was giving him a strange look now. Great.

Really, he wasn't _that_ bad. It didn't help that Snake, Eagle, and Lynx were all shooting each other grins and wiping away imaginary tears of pride.

"Our Wolfie's all grown up!" cried Eagle shamelessly.

"_Don't_ call me that." Wolf ground out. "I do know when I'm wrong." He muttered quietly, but it didn't escape anyone's ears.

"Big improvement from before," Snake chuckled while the less subtle Eagle howled with laughter.

Wolf sputtered indignantly. "That was basic training! _Three years ago!_ Everyone was crazy as hell, and they didn't have a kid to worry about on top of all the crap they threw at us!"

"Oh, yeah, Cub junior. Come to think of it, he was rather good, wasn't he?" Snake said, rubbing his stubble.

"He certainly kept up," Eagle quipped. Then he grinned. "And best of all, he kicked Wolf out of a plane!"

While Wolf used Eagle as boot target practice, Lynx looked on, his countenance thoughtful.

_MI6 does have a habit of sticking their guys in the SAS and naming them Cub, eh?_ he mused to himself. _And they all come with a boat- load of secrets._

From what he'd heard from the others, it was apparent that they never found out exactly why they got stuck with a teenager. They couldn't even remember exactly what the kid looked like, being covered with grime and mud for the majority of their time together.

Hmm…interesting.

And speaking of Cubs…

"Hey, where do you think you're going?"

The noise level cut abruptly for the second time this morning and all eyes focused, once more, on Cub's retreating back. He'd made it to the door, evidently trying to make an escape.

"You're not getting off that easy, Cub," Snake warned. "I'm going to check your injuries. I have to make sure Shark didn't do any serious damage."

"It's _fine." _Cub insisted. He kept just outside Snake's, or anyone else's, reach. Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy when Snake was being dead serious.

"Don't try that on me." It was quite an impressive glare Snake was directing at him.

Lynx broke in before Cub could raise any complaints. "Just go with it. You're not convincing anyone. It had to have been a serous fight if Shark ended up in the infirmary."

"Yes, exactly. He's the one in the infirmary. Shouldn't you be more worried about him?"

"Heh, that bastard? He can stay in there for all we care," Eagle drawled. "Trust me, most of us would thank you – I bet even the sarge didn't mind."

"Lovely."

Cub reached out for the door handle, but Lynx wasn't having that. He reached out and took hold of Cub's arm, hyperaware of the stiffening of muscles beneath his fingers.

"I think it's about time you explained a few things." The arm in his grasp was yanked out of his grip.

"I have nothing to say to you."

"What's the point of being so difficult?" The other three made various sounds of agreement.

Cub's returning statement was uttered under the breath, perhaps not meant for them to hear, but Lynx caught it anyway.

"I'm not the one being difficult."

Lynx frowned. "Why would you say that?" He was genuinely curious. Would they finally get an answer?

"No reason." Apparently not. Except they'd come this far – further than any other time – and Wolf wasn't going to let this opportunity go. The stage was set. Lights, camera, action?

"The hell with that! Would it kill you to at least tell us why we suddenly have an extra member in our unit? It's been long enough and you know we want answers! We can't keep doing this if we can't trust each other, even a little!" By the end of his little spiel, his voice had raised a few decibels.

Through that, the others were watching Cub's reactions. Nothing much was given away, but his mask had slipped slightly and his stance was vaguely defensive. Still, his gaze was stony.

"What, exactly, are we supposed to be "doing"?" the spy asked. "There's nothing wrong with our arrangement. I'll stay out of your way; you don't need to know anything."

In spite of the whole situation, Lynx was close to vibrating in anticipation. Opportunity!

"So you're avoiding us on purpose. Why bother?" Lynx pressed. "What's wrong with having each other's backs? We're willing to trust you if you do the same."

Brown eyes narrowed. "You want me to believe you want to be _pals?_ All you want to do is get answers. I won't tell you anything that doesn't concern you."

The spy muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "It's way too early for this."

"What, just because you're a spy?" Wolf couldn't help sneering. "Top secret classified info, or whatever bullshit you people cook up? I'm telling you, if you're going to be part of this unit, we deserve a few answers!"

Lynx kicked him. The K-unit leader took a calming breath.

"Sorry." Huh. Twice in a day. Who would've thought?

Cub's fists remained clenched at his sides.

"Eh, well, the point is," Lynx said hurriedly, keeping the conversation alive, "it shouldn't be hard to get along. Of course we want answers – we're curious – but I swear that's not the only thing we care about. We're not that bad."

Fingers raked through blond hair.

"I don't understand."

His confusion made him vulnerable and he suddenly looked younger. Lynx found his suspicions deepened. A glance around showed him a frowning Wolf, brow furrowed in thought.

"C'mon," Eagle interjected, "it's simple. You seem like a pretty cool guy. We shake hands, we're buddies."

Alex blinked. He thought he'd been doing a pretty good job at playing the part of a stereotypical, cold MI6 bastard. Actually, he _knew_ he was. So why…? He didn't bother hiding his confusion.

"Why? I don't want to be _buddies_; I thought I made that clear."

"Hah! So you admit that you were purposely avoiding us?" Eagle accused.

"Yes."

"…Oh." The blunt reply made them all pause to consider.

"Mind enlightening us as to why you're doing that?" Lynx enquired.

"No."

Stalking forwards, Wolf growled, "Stop being childish. I thought we were past that."

Something flashed in Cub's eyes. He looked straight at Wolf when he made his retort. Vaguely, Alex wondered why he was replying at all.

"I'm not here to make friends."

"Why not –?" Snake began, but Cub wasn't done.

"Your words, Wolf. You don't want me here; _I_ don't want to be here."

A shadow of guilt took a stab at Wolf's conscience as he was once again reminded of his angry speech yesterday. But he was spared having to own up by Lynx.

"He already admitted he was wrong. After the Wolf-man cooled down last night, I don't think any of us really believed B-unit's versions of events."

"Shark had every reason to attack first," Snake agreed.

"So, now that we've established that we all see the obvious explanation, can we get back to the more important stuff?" Eagle tried. "You still haven't told us why you're avoiding us; I still have no idea what we've done to piss you off!"

But unfortunately for them, Alex had just remembered something and he eagerly grabbed hold of the readymade excuse to escape.

"Breakfast is ending in five."

Caught up in the heat of the moment, every one of them had lost track of time. Now, they were pulled back into the flow of reality.

Alex walked out the door, unhindered this time, leaving the unit to their cursing. He found himself unable to summon up any feelings of triumph, even having thwarted the soldiers again. Making his way to the first drill of the day, he was subconsciously trying to distance himself both physically and mentally from the source of his conflicted thoughts.

Yet if he thought he'd managed to dodge suspicion, he was sadly mistaken.

* * *

"Where is he?"

"Eh?"

"Cub," Eagle clarified. "We haven't seen him all day."

Snake gave him a strange look. "He's got kitchen duty, remember?"

"Oh, right…"

Ahead of them, Wolf and Lynx had already started towards the mess hall.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving! You coming or not?" Lynx threw over his shoulder.

Sprinting to catch up, Eagle yelled back, "Fat-arse!"

"Your grandmother can run faster!"

Wolf and Snake followed behind, strolling along at a more docile pace.

"Reckon those two still get sent to daycare when they get leave?" Snake asked serenely.

"Bit of a toss-up," Wolf replied, equally deadpan. "I hear it's quite easy to find a kid looking for a babysitting job these days."

Somehow, all of K-unit – minus Cub – made it to the mess at the same time and they entered together. Immediately, they noticed that the mood was a bit more amiable than it should've been at this time of day. Usually, the hall was filled with grumpy, empty-stomached soldiers.

Panther of E-unit patted Snake on the head on his way out, a very satisfied look on his face. Grinning at his unit leader's antics, Crocodile followed behind the rest of his unit, each of them offering a nod of acknowledgement to K.

"Good food today."

"Eh?" Snake wondered for the second time, utterly bemused.

Thankfully, this mystery wasn't nearly as unfathomable as a certain MI6 agent. The cause of the good mood was apparent as soon as they reached the end of the line for food.

A tray was handed to each of them and they simultaneously let out gasps of disbelief. Eagle's eyes bugged out as he stared down at the _food_ that was filling his nostrils with a heavenly aroma.

"Holy mother of sarge's pants…"

The cook at the window grinned at him – they _never_ grinned – and gestured behind him. "You're holding up the line, sonny."

"But…what…?"

"You all have Cub, the dear lad, to thank for this. Whatever the boy did to get stuck wit' us for a week, we're glad to have him. Dunno how he does it!"

Secretly, Eagle thought anything was better than what the cooks usually threw together, but this – _this_ – was a real treat. He, and his teammates, all but bolted to their table and picked their forks eagerly.

"_Damn_, this is good," Lynx groaned, closing his eyes in bliss. "Best I've had, I swear."

"Can'k argue wif 'at," Eagle said, mouth full and words muffled.

Wolf rolled his eyes. "It's not bad."

Smirking, Snake was also digging in with gusto. "Not all of us have grandmothers with godly-cooking abilities who regularly check in to make sure we haven't starved to death off-duty, Wolf. "

"Ye, you've go'it easy," Eagle got out, spraying Snake with little bits of food. The serpent-named soldier wiped his face in disgust.

They chattered aimlessly, the good food raising their spirits as it did for their fellow soldiers. Lulled into a laid-back frame of mind, they all jumped in their seats when an almighty cheer rose up. Eagle thumped Snake, who was choking, on the back while their gazes roved around the hall, focussing on the source of the commotion.

The star of the evening himself had just stepped out of a door at the side of the room. Cub had been trying to slip out undetected when he'd been bombarded with shouts of his name.

"Cub, hey!"

"Dude, yo!"

"Go out with me!"

"Cub, you Cub-man!"

"I love you!"

The spy shot a dirty glare at the cook who waved innocently. Evidently, he'd been the source of the generous advertising so that not one person didn't know who was behind tonight's dinner.

Eagle raised an arm to beckon their fifth member over, but when Cub caught sight of the unit, he turned his back and left. As Eagle left his arm drop back down, all four of them were reminded of their confrontation.

After Cub had exited that morning, Wolf was left to his thoughts. He'd tried very hard to push them out of the way with relative success in order to focus on the day's tasks. No such luck now.

Lynx had never really stopped thinking about his theory and it plagued his actions throughout the day. Seeing the expression on Wolf's face, he thought he had a pretty good idea of what he was thinking.

Well, there was always something he wanted to confirm and there was no time better than the present. Turning, he elbowed his unit leader.

"Wolf."

"Yeah?"

"You…uh, I remember you mentioning a mission in…France, was it? You told us you met Cub there. The original one."

The other two had stopped talking and were listening with rapt attention. Wolf studied the table.

"You were the only one who saw Cub for a second time. Do you remember what he looked like?"

The men of K-unit were, by no means, stupid and eyes widened when they realized what Lynx was implying.

"You can't think…?" Snake shook his head.

Ignoring him, Lynx prompted, "Wolf?"

"I can't say for sure," Wolf responded at last, gruffly. "That was three years ago. The kid had a bandage 'round his head and then we all had gear on. Goggles and shit. Didn't really pay attention to his face."

The answer was a bit disappointing but Lynx's idea wasn't dispelled. It was only one potential clue, after all. He met his unit mates' scrutinizing gazes and raised an eyebrow.

"How could they be the same person?" Eagle asked bluntly. There was no question of who he was referring to. "The only similarity I remember is they're both blond. But this Cub's an MI6 agent."

Snake was nodding, a bit warily. "That's true. Any agent we're ever met who looked remotely experienced had been working for '6 at least a couple years. They never start in the field right away. It's only been three since we saw Cub junior."

By this point, K-unit had leaned in closer to each other, talking in hushed tones.

"A lot can happen in three years," Lynx argued.

"Nah," said Eagle, "you didn't see him. Couldn't have been more than sixteen, seventeen. How could a teenager be working for the SIS? Listen to yourself."

"This Cub doesn't exactly look old, does he?"

"If little Cub was sixteen then, he'd only be nineteen now. Does that sound like the proper age for a field agent? And he's got the skills of a damn good one."

"What, exactly, is normal about this whole thing anyway –?"

"Hey! Get a move one!" A knuckle rapped loudly against K-unit's table, cutting off Lynx's heated retort. "If you want to gossip like little school girls, do it outside!"

K-unit rose as one without protest, albeit slightly annoyed, and walked briskly past the visibly more irritated janitor.

No one said another word as they walked in thoughtful silence back to their barrack. The conversation was over for now, but the debate was still fresh in the soldiers' minds.

Good, _logical_ points were made and yet Lynx refused to be dissuaded. Even he, himself, wasn't sure why he was adamant about pursuing this issue. He just had a _feeling_, and one look at Wolf, who hadn't spoken a word since answering Lynx's question, told him he wasn't the only one.

When morning came, he would find a way to corner Cub. It wouldn't be easy (there were reasons he became a soldier, not a spy), but he'd find a way. Maybe.

* * *

From experience, K-unit now knew very well the consequences of trying to satisfy their Cub-related curiosity. Every time they even came close to getting a word or two out of the enigmatic spy, Cub would become colder and more distant than usual. Admittedly, that wasn't often – at all – and it wasn't like Cub needed any more excuses to be cold and distant. This time, they'd gotten closer than ever before and Cub actually had a valid avoid-the-unit card.

The soldiers in the training camp didn't mind at all, though, because Cub's punishment meant they would have delicious things to eat for a week. The attitude towards Cub's presence in the camp had made a rather drastic turn over the space of a night. Amazing what food could do.

Lynx, however, was frustrated at the lack of chance to talk to Cub. It felt like they had reached something of a climax, a break point, and if he didn't grab the opportunity soon, it would slip away forever. The problem was there wasn't much Lynx could do about it.

In the end, the opportunity came to him, instead of the other way around. Once again, Lynx had long days and gruelling exercises to thank. And sooner than expected.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so can you tell I gave up and just ended up spewing bullshit? Cause that's what happened. I was going to sit on this one until I finished the next chapter, but I've kind of lost my muse, and what better way to regain motivation than to hear from you lot? ;)**

**And, distractions. SHERLOCK. God, why do I do this to myself. ****You can also blame school for the gap between updates. **

**This was going to be longer, but I ended up moving a chunk to the next instalment. I'm really, really not happy with this one, but yeah. It's been far too long.  
So, please, _please_ do drop a line and you may get another chapter sooner than this one.  
(Oh, who am I kidding, even I grimace when I think of this excuse for a story.)**

But yeah. Next time: finally, the game is up.

***Aaaaand how about some shameless advertising? :D Coincidental now has a second part, as well as a rewritten first part. All done on a whim, but that's there if anyone's interested.**

****I'd appreciate if you could tell me if you spot any errors, whether it's grammar, spelling, etc., or formatting(I don't trust this site). Then I can fix them, or attempt to, as soon as possible. Thanks.**


	9. Chapter 9: Promises Worth Keeping

_**Chapter 9: Promises Worth Keeping**_

* * *

Alex was exhausted again. He could feel his brain protesting as he had to work harder and harder to stay focussed.

It hadn't gotten to the point where it affected his performance significantly, but now that K-unit had taken a rediscovered interest in him, he felt like he was constantly being examined under a microscope while he was with them.

Now, as he completed his last round of the SAS-style obstacle course, he could see Snake giving him subtle glances, a small frown on his face.

He was pretty sure he could pinpoint when the cycle began – perhaps it was a somewhat psychological effect, but ever since the last confrontation with K-unit three days ago, his vigilance had broken.

More and more often, he found himself giving in to heavy eyelids and letting his wariness show. The nightmares weren't getting any easier to deal with and he knew he was in serious need of a good night's rest.

After some consideration, he decided he would ditch his normal routine of staying out well past sunset. _Just tonight._

With that in mind, he would rather not walk in with the soldiers already there. He'd spent plenty of time being stared at wherever he was forced to make an appearance. It'd be slightly better if he got there first and made himself discreet, he reasoned.

By the time he arrived at the barrack, Alex was feeling a bit more awake after a refreshing shower. Even though he was tired, habit made it harder to fall asleep at this much earlier hour. Somewhat self-consciously, he reached down into his sparse personal affects and pulled out a book.

It was one of the books on his school reading list. He snorted at himself. How stupid. As if he would ever go back. He'd spent his last years at Brookland being…not there. Even graduation would take place without him – a piece of normality he would never experience.

Even still, he sat down on the corner of his bed, leaned against a post and placed his focus on the writing.

A few pages in, the door opened and Alex saw Lynx enter in his peripheral vision. He didn't look up. He hadn't been expected anyone to disturb him yet, but at least it wasn't the whole lot of them.

Lynx appeared to be rummaging around aimlessly. Alex didn't pay him any mind and ignored him when he wandered over. The brunet had always tried the hardest to talk to him, for whatever reason.

"Hey, Cub. What're you reading?"

"School book," Alex murmured absently.

It took perhaps a second and a half seconds for Alex to realize the mistake in those simple two words. He took another second hoping it wasn't noticed and maybe it had been a long day for Lynx as well and please, please just walk away. But, of course, since when did _hoping_ for something actually make a difference? Lynx was alert and always scrutinizing him and _crap, _a hand descended on his shoulder.

"School book, you say. Cub, how old are you, exactly?"

Alex sighed.

* * *

A good two hundred kilometres away, a door closed and Mrs. Jones let her head fall into her heads, but only for a moment. Even in private, the head of Special Operations kept a tight leash on her emotions.

It was the only way to survive in the business, especially for one in her position.

She took another glance at the files laid out on her desk before picking up the phone and dialling a familiar number. It rang once.

"_Blunt."_

"We have a bit of a situation." There was no need for any introduction. Mrs. Jones was one of the very few people who could bypass the secretary.

"_What's the priority level? We've been kept busy enough with the multiple bomb threats in the Middle East," _was the brisk reply.

"It concerns that major drug and human trafficking ring we've been keeping an eye on in South America."

Mrs. Jones took the lack of reply as a cue to continue. "There's been some suspicious activity going on in an organization called Igneus. Large sums of money have changed hands from a source outside the usual, ah…clients. I've sent you the files."

There was a moment of silence as Blunt, presumably, pulled up said files on his computer.

"_They're a relatively small organization. Just a branch integrated into the larger system, yes? I imagine they shouldn't be very difficult to deal with if there is something going on." _

"Yes, that's what we thought originally. We recruited an informant to just when Igneus grew big enough to appear on the radar, but it didn't – and still doesn't – have a great deal of influence. But as soon as the informant managed to get the information to us, we lost all contact. And the numbers are…alarming."

"_I see. And this is all the information we have? Until we get a better idea of what we're dealing with, the best we can do is keep an eye on them."_

Mrs. Jones sighed. "I'm afraid that's the problem. When we lost contact with our informant, we sent another agent, Biggs, but we lost contact with him, too, after only four days. All the information we have is in that file I sent you. Nothing more."

"_That must be corrected as soon as possible. We can't afford to be blind right now."_

"I am aware." And she knew what would come next. Already, she felt the stirrings of guilt rise, unbidden.

"_This group uses a lot of adolescents in their network, do they not?"_

"Alan."

"_You know what to do, Tulip."_

"…Yes, sir."

* * *

"Cub?"

The game was up. Alex didn't need to look up to see the certainty in Lynx's unwavering stare.

"Seventeen."

Lynx let out a gust of air and stepped back to plop down on the bunk opposite. Alex chanced a peek at him.

"Blimey. That's…" Lynx let a hand cover his face momentarily. "I shouldn't be surprised."

"How'd you figure it out?" It was a question that had to be asked, but somehow Alex thought he knew the answer.

There was a small pause as Lynx contemplated this.

"A lot of things just fell into place. Little details…actually, I'm not really sure how to explain. Call it a gut instinct if you like. Got it in my head and it kind of just stuck."

Alex snorted, dully. "That's not a very good theory."

"Good enough, apparently."

Alex couldn't disagree. "I'm surprised the others didn't figure it out sooner. It's not very subtle. I have the same name."

"Heh, yeah. It's like they weren't even trying to keep it a secret." Lynx paused long enough for that to sink in and he looked Alex in the eye. "Why did you hide it, Cub?"

Suddenly, that name had taken on a whole new meaning. And Alex found himself incapable of producing an answer.

"I…don't owe you any explanations."

The older man grimaced and let a hand pass over his face again.

"I thought we got past this already," he groaned. "Look, I'm not going to try and force anything out of you – that's not the point and it's not like I _could._ And I'm not going to pretend I know anything about you or what you've been through, because I don't. Just…you're so young and…if you, er, ever need someone to talk to…"

Cub gave him an unreadable look. "So, that's what this is all about? Helping the little kid to make yourself feel better?"

"Gah!" Lynx let out a frustrated exclamation. "No – _no,_ that's not the point!"

More softly, he said, "We talked about it, you know? After that…conversation we had the other day."

Cub's head snapped up sharply.

"The guys came up with a shitload of reasons why you _can't_ be Cub. It made sense to me and _I wanted to believe it._ But, I just couldn't let it go." Lynx shook his head. "I know I'm not the only one who suspected. Wolf, especially. He was there in France with you.

"The possibility was always there. No matter what explanations we come up with, sometimes I look at you and you look so _young_. And it's like you said: they didn't even bother giving you a different name."

A dry chuckle.

"I think we all realized at some point, at least subconsciously. But we're supposed to be protecting kids, not the other way around. No one _wanted_ to think about it. But still…we all knew, I think."

No one spoke for a long time after that.

All of a sudden, Alex felt so _tired._ Not the physical exhaustion that was plaguing him earlier – no, it was a bone-deep wariness that drained him and made his chest ache strangely.

He also felt an inexplicable urge to cry. All this time…why did he work so hard? Every single day, he put up his walls.

And for what? He couldn't even remember why. It just so happened that K-unit didn't recognize him and on a whim, Alex decided not to correct them. Soon enough, he was going out of his way to avoid them, purposely isolating himself.

It was over now. So, why did he have this strange aching in his chest? Why did he feel so conflicted?

Was it fear? What was he afraid of?

"Don't tell them. The others." The words were blurted out, breaking the silence and startling Lynx out of his reverie. The other man looked taken aback.

'Why not?"

"Please. I don't know. Just…don't." Alex hated himself for that pleading note in his voice. He sounded childish, even to his own ears.

A contemplative expression settled on Lynx's face and Alex felt the urge to squirm in discomfort. He didn't.

"You're afraid."

Alex said nothing, inhaling deeply. He was losing his touch if Lynx was able to read him so easily.

"I'm sorry."

_What?_ Alex didn't bother hiding his confusion this time. Lynx actually looked a bit embarrassed at his own words, and Alex's incredulous stare wasn't helping.

"I, er…I know I can't really help much with all the crap you must've gone through. I'm no psychologist." The soldier rubbed at his neck sheepishly. "But I'm going to do my best. If it makes you feel better, I promise I won't tell the others. You can trust me, okay? You can trust _us."_

Alex's chest was constricted with a different emotion now.

"You wouldn't make a half bad shrink."

"Yeah, well, I – "

"Thanks."

The young spy turned away just as the door opened. He didn't see the large grin spreading over Lynx's face as the rest of the unit trampled in raucously.

When the others asked Lynx why he was smiling like an idiot while gesturing discreetly at Cub's back, the soldier merely shrugged, pulled his own covers over his head and let himself drift off to sleep.

* * *

The sun pierced through gloomy clouds and Lynx rolled over, groaning. He allowed himself a moment to assimilate into the waking world and sat up. Almost subconsciously, his head turned towards Cub's bed and he searched hopefully for a glimpse of blond hair.

The bed was made and very much devoid of any Cub.

Lynx felt a drop of disappointment and kicked himself mentally. What had he expected? A one-eighty turn overnight from a gloomy Cub to a cheerful, friendly Cub? There was still a long way to go.

Shaking himself, he carried out his morning activities – which involved jumping on the others – and let himself out of the cabin. He almost forgot to wait for the others as per usual, before realizing that it wouldn't do to act off, in any way. He was going to work hard to keep that promise he made, even if it involved lying to his teammates.

_Omitting certain facts, _he thought resolutely. It wasn't lying if it was just never brought up. It was the only way, as of yet, to prove his trustworthiness to Cub. And god knew that kid probably had some serious trust issues by now.

"Did something happen with Cub yesterday?"

Lynx twitched. Great. Leave it to Wolf to make things difficult. At least Snake and Eagle weren't paying attention.

"Uh, yeah. We talked."

"You _talked?"_

"Well, I asked him questions," Lynx amended quickly.

"Get anything?" The unit leader looked like he was trying to keep the interest from showing on his face, which meant he wasn't succeeding.

Lynx tried to be as vague as possible, keeping his voice flat. "You know how he is." He hesitated. "But…I still think we should keep trying. He's a good ki – guy. Probably."

"Yeah, sure…"

They made it to the mess hall without further prodding on Wolf's part, for which Lynx was thankful.

When they stepped in, Lynx immediately spotted Cub finishing up his breakfast. The spy – the _teenage spy_ – was just getting up when their eyes met. Uncertainly, Lynx shot a grin in his direction.

Cub's expression didn't change at all; after a long second, Lynx was convinced he had just been ignored, but as the blond passed them on his way out, he got a small nod of acknowledgement and a glance that wasn't hostile in the least.

A sideways peek told Lynx that the others hadn't noticed.

It was amazing how a small gesture from Cub could make him feel so accomplished. Ah, that boy was going to be the death of him.

* * *

"I'm dying!"

"Shut up, Eagle."

"But I'm bleeding, Snake, look!"

The unit had just finished an exercise in the Killing House.

"It's just a scratch."

"You know those are the ones that sting like a bitch."

"The only thing that's bitchy here is – "

"You?"

Snake smacked his forehead. "It's your own fault for jumping through that window."

"It was _necessary._"

Wolf cut in before the argument would progress any further.

"I swear you have the same conversation _every fucking time. _I'm starving. Eagle, find a bloody plaster so we can leave."

"Fine, fine. Don't show any concern for your wounded teammate," Eagle muttered. "Where's Cub, by the way? He's usually here for these kinds of things."

Lynx was wondering exactly the same thing and he shrugged. Wolf and Snake mirrored the motion.

It wasn't until the unit entered the mess hall that Lynx felt the first stirrings of unease.

The first thing he noticed was the familiar sight of unappetizing food, which translated directly into the distinct lack of Cub's culinary skills.

"I can't eat this anymore." At the nearest table, someone, Panther, was complaining.

His teammate chuckled. "We've been spoiled…it was great while it lasted. Blondie should get into trouble more."

"Nah, he's a spy, right? It's his job not to get caught even if he murdered us in our sleep!" another quipped.

"Yeah, real comforting, you are."

K-unit glanced at each other.

"It was supposed to be for a week right?" Lynx asked slowly.

Eagle just made an off-handed gesture. "Sarge was probably feeling particularly moody, or something. Let him off early so we don't get edible food."

The members of K-unit laughed but that theory was dispelled as soon as it left Eagle's mouth. A dark-haired soldier Lynx recognized as part of F-unit stopped as he passed them.

"Hey, the sarge was asking for Cub earlier. I passed on the message when I saw you guys at the shooting range. Just thought I'd mention it, in case you didn't know."

Wolf shook his head. "We didn't. Thanks," he grunted.

The other soldier nodded to him and walked away.

"Well," Snake said, "that answers that question."

"But what did the sergeant want with Cub?" Eagle wondered. "And they can't have talked for this long."

"Probably went back to the hut," Wolf guessed. "Come on. Dunno about you lot, but I wasn't kidding when I said I was hungry."

But it seemed like someone was determined to keep Wolf from satisfying his hunger that day. They'd just sat down with their trays laden with nourishment when someone else approached their table.

"What now, Lemur?" the unit leader growled irritably.

"Apparently the sergeant wants to speak to you gentlemen," Lemur grinned. "What'd you do this time?"

K-unit blinked.

Wolf narrowed his eyes. "Now?"

"Yeah, that's what the man said."

The soldiers exchanged glances. They stood.

"Well, lead the way," Eagle muttered.

And so K-unit exited the mess hall empty-stomached and trekked towards the sergeant's office. When they arrived a few minutes later, Wolf knocked and the unit waited apprehensively.

"Enter." The brusque command was obeyed and the four men sidled into the room and stood at attention.

The sergeant looked up from his desk and waved an arm at the men. "At ease. I trust you know what this is about? This is more of a formality than anything."

Confused, K-unit could only offer blank looks. "Actually…"

"He didn't tell you?" An eyebrow was raised. "Bloody spies."

"We heard that you needed to speak with Cub earlier, sir?" Lynx tried.

The sarge cleared his throat. "Yes. MI6 has called him in for an assignment. He should've gone by now."

"_What?" _ A glare was shot at Lynx. "Sir."

"Don't ask me; I don't know any details. Damn spies like keeping their secrets. But, I'm told Cub will be returning to complete this training term with you. Expect him back in a week. Apparently, the assignment is relatively simple."

"Sir," Lynx began again. "Cub…is Cub listed officially as part of our unit?"

He was treated to a shrewd look. "Yes, actually. Which means we're are entitled to status reports. I assume that's what you were getting at, soldier?"

"Ah, yes, sir." Resisting the urge to rub his head in slight embarrassment, Lynx avoided the surprised glances his unit mates shot at him.

The sergeant was still making Lynx feel like he was being thoroughly examined. "Developed a bit of an attachment, have we?"

"Sir, I –"

"You're dismissed."

Very much wrong-footed, Lynx joined the rest of his unit in their chorus of yes-sirs, and followed them out. Eagle lost no time in teasing Lynx for his stuttering and the sergeant's comments and Lynx allowed himself to play along.

Later that evening, getting ready to rest, Lynx stared at Cub's empty bed and clenched a fist. He fell asleep feeling much less happy than the night before.

* * *

**A/N: So, stuff happened. Kind of a wild loop for Lynx, eh? One thing after another...**

**And I have to thank all of you wonderful readers for making my day with your reviews and favs! Almost 360 reviews in total, you guys are amazing! Of course, most of the reviews are for the original version, so it's kind of like cheating... But I still get an encouraging number for each new chapter which really motivates me.**

**An extra special thanks to those who went further and actually pointed out some errors or told me specifically what they thought of the chapter (you know who you are). Once again, I would appreciate it if any mistakes were pointed out so that I may correct them asap.**

**Anyway, chapter 10 is in the works, so stay tuned and hopefully you'll have the next instalment soon enough. :D**


	10. Chapter 10: The Waiting Game

**Chapter 10: The Waiting Game**

* * *

Around a long table in a darkened room, a dozen or so men sat waiting. The seconds ticked by. The seconds became minutes. Some were better at hiding their impatience than others, apparent by the occasional twitch, a few glances at a gleaming wristwatch, or a displeased scowl.

Fifteen minutes passed before the silence was broken at last by the muffled sound of heels against carpet, growing louder.

Heads lifted at the turning of the door knob. A figure strolled in, casual and unruffled, a chair was pulled out and the room descended into silence once more.

For a minute, no one spoke. Then, a man leaned forward.

"You're late." His agitation was written upon his face, as evident as his Australian accent. The man was clad in a dark business suit, but the polished look was marred by an ugly scar that snaked its way down the side of his face.

"Apologies, Javens." The woman smiled sweetly. "There were some important matters to tie up. Not all of us have so much free time." The jab was clear, but before Javens could reply, he was cut off by a deep baritone.

"_Welcome,_ gentlemen and lady." Dark hair framed an angular middle-aged face and gray eyes swept around the table, lingering on the irritated Javens, daring him to challenge. Kirill Giunter was born Russian, although it was not apparent from his accent. "I trust we all know why we are here."

"We should have anticipated this." Javens spoke up, still disgruntled by the earlier interruption.

Giunter's mouth thinned. "No one came here today to argue."

"No, not at all." The Australian man folded his hands together on the table and leaned back but his scorn for his colleague lingered in his expression.

"It seems MI6 has become aware of unusual movements in Igneus," Giunter continued. "The informant was taken care of, but not before certain details were leaked."

"Does MI6 know of our involvement?" the woman inquired, her face shadowed by auburn curls.

"No, the agent sent in afterwards was discovered quickly. A bit of interrogation was enough for the agent to tell us everything he knew. MI6 know only of the monetary transactions. Nothing more."

"That is one good thing, but this leak should not have happened in the first place." A different man leant forward. "It is not prudent to place the operation in the hands of an amateur organization like Igneus. Mistakes like this will continue to be made."

"It is advantageous," Giunter retorted. "They will be underestimated. As long as their ties to us are not revealed soon, MI6 will not take action until it is too late."

"That is all very well, but they are already suspicious. They will not ignore a missing agent."

"And we are on our guard. They will learn nothing and they cannot take significant action in another country without more substantial information. Furthermore…" The Russian's lips tilted upwards. "I had arranged for another detail to be released. Igneus takes advantage of many _young_ employees, do they not?"

"Ah…"

The woman frowned. "That is a bit of a risk, isn't it? That boy has disrupted many of our plans in the past."

A Frenchman joined in the discussion. "Mademoiselle Karina speaks reasonably. Given that we are here in place of our predecessors…"

Giunter held up a hand. "This is precisely the reason. We have been inconvenienced too many times in these past years by the actions of one man alone, and he is a mere boy. We have waited far too long to remove this nuisance and we can take this inconvenience as an opportunity."

"I agree with Mr. Giunter," another man, German, uttered. "We are expecting him; the boy will stand no chance. We must restore our status that the previous executive board has let crumble. I imagine that is why we are fulfilling such ludicrous demands from an obviously unbalanced client."

"Indeed," Giunter mused. "Ludicrous will be good for us when we succeed. Perfect for making an _impact_. The boy, also, may prove useful once we have…loosened his lips."

Javens was no longer frowning. Rubbing a hidden scar on his arm that matched the one adorning his face, he murmured. "I have no objections to that. The boy has overstayed his welcome on the earth, this _Alex Rider…"_

* * *

Lynx shifted. He'd been hiding in the same position for a couple minutes now. Branches were poking at him and he was trying hard not to sneeze.

His radio crackled softly into life.

"_Kilo unit, this is Wolf. Come in."_

A second later, Eagle and Snake responded.

Quietly, Lynx brought the device up to his mouth. "Wolf, this is Lynx. Over."

"_Kilo unit. I have eyes on target. Standby. Over."_

"Roger that."

The others made similar acknowledgments.

Checking his gun, Lynx sharpened his gaze and forced himself to be more alert. They were in the middle of an exercise and they, K-unit, were the hunters. They were enjoying this immensely, remembering when they had, as fresh-faced recruits, played this very game. Only back then, the roles had been reversed. They had been the ones treading warily to avoid ambushes like the one they had set up now.

But for each moment Lynx waited in silence, he found his mind drifting back to the nagging sensation constantly plaguing him.

Here they were, training, preparing themselves for real situations, when Cub was out there, actually doing it. Cub, who was barely old enough to drive a car, was out there risking his safety. Lynx dreaded to say _life._

He didn't know what Cub did for MI6, but it brought a sick feeling to his stomach to even think that the country he was serving had taken advantage of a child. For all his conviction to the theory that was now proven, Lynx found it difficult to process.

He'd seen Cub hold a gun like it was the most natural thing in the world, witnessed his resilience as they trekked along mountainous trails, and he'd experienced for himself the fluid and skillful way Cub struck down his opponents in combat.

Seventeen. Cub was only seventeen. That made him fourteen when he'd first come to Brecon Beacons. Fourteen when he'd accompanied Wolf on a mission that gave Wolf a bullet scar for a souvenir. It was enough to make Lynx shudder with suppressed emotion.

"_Lynx, this is Wolf. Over."_ Lynx started.

"Wolf, this is Lynx. Send, over."

"_Target has split into two groups. Alpha group heading your way. Got a visual yet?"_

"Negative."

"_Well, get ready to hand their arses to them. Wolf, out."_

Lynx snorted in amusement. "Wilco, Wolf. Out."

The momentary mirth went as fast as it came. Readying his mock-weapon, Lynx forced himself to focus on the task at hand.

Later, when the others inquired as to why he'd been so absent-minded all day, Lynx could only shrug. He wished he could tell them, but he'd made a promise. Now, all he could do was wait.

* * *

Alex held in a groan as another foot met his already bruised midriff. He attempted to curl in around himself to protect his vital regions.

"Did you think we would be fooled, _Andres?_" The voice above mocked him in Spanish and Alex understood every word. "I'll admit, it was a very good disguise, but not good enough."

Really, it was quite embarrassing how fast he'd been caught this time. Alex barely had time to feel the satisfaction of making contact in the first place, before he felt the familiar prick of a needle that pulled him into darkness. He woke up with his arms and legs bound tightly and rough looking guys standing over him, clearly spoiling for a fight, however one-sided.

During his first year in the field, he'd been captured pretty much every single time. As a spy, it was an appalling track record. Well, it would be if it weren't for the fact that he still managed to complete all his missions. To this day, he had still never failed. Unfortunately, he also managed to still get himself captured at least once in a while. The number had dwindled over the past two years, but evidently he still had room for improvement.

"A bit young to be a government lapdog, aren't ya?" Another man was sneering while aiming a hard kick at his ribs. Alex did not give him the satisfaction of a reply.

Actually, the whole thing was very suspicious. He was not so conceited that he thought he was now good enough to avoid getting caught, but it had happened way too quickly. He honestly had no idea what it was that gave him away. In fact, he didn't even think there was enough time for him to make a mistake.

They had known he was coming. They'd been prepared, on the lookout. Even so, the grunts – because that's what the men obviously were – didn't know who he really was. They knew he was a government agent and that was about it. Till this point, they hadn't mentioned his name or even MI6. Alex figured he might find out a bit more if he met the big boss. _When _he met the big boss, that is; it was apparent that that's who they were waiting for.

Alex's hunch was proved correct a minute later. The flurry of movement gradually came to a standstill and a new voice captured Alex's attention.

"Well, well. You really did show up." The new arrival, the boss, was the definition of deceiving appearances. He was not particularly tall, dressed in casual but neat business attire. Altogether, he had a very respectable air around him. Alex snorted to himself – of course, he was no stranger to disguise.

"You are quite young, Mr. Rider. Younger than I expected." Boss, as Alex had dubbed him, chuckled. "I admit you might have succeeded had we not known. Is that your natural hair colour, Alex?" He gestured to Alex's dark brown locks with all the appearance of innocent curiosity.

Huh, so there was a third party. Someone else had told them about Alex, warned them he would come. Well, then it was probably someone, or some group, Alex had encountered before.

Ignoring Boss's latest question, Alex ventured a question of his own. "How did you find out about me?"

Boss chuckled again. "Don't concern yourself with that." Alex was vaguely disappointed. It looked like he would have to figure it out on his own.

"Alright, enough chitchat. Raul and Perez, take little Alex, here, to one of the rooms. I will be giving further instructions about the matter shortly."

Apparently, someone had decided that Alex needed to be blindfolded. He couldn't fathom why they hadn't done that earlier, but he saw no more as the dark cloth descended over his eyes. Moments later, he heard no more, either, as he was shoved out of the room and further down the hallway.

They were underground, that much Alex could tell. The hall was relatively narrow and the ceiling was low. He could feel the walls pressing in on him.

_The air was cold and damp. He couldn't move, couldn't see, couldn't breathe –_

Stop. Not now.

One of the men flanking him caught his stumble and pushed him hard in the back. The clanging of a barred door being opened announced their arrival. Alex was practically thrown into the cell. He started when he felt warm breath next to his ear.

A gravelly voice spoke. "It seems that Perez and I have been given the _honour_ of looking after you. We're going to have lots of fun, little boy." Alex could hear the perverse pleasure in the man's – Raul, he recalled – tone. He fought the urge to flinch away.

The presence behind him moved away and two sets of footsteps retreated. Alex panicked.

_Wait_, he wanted to shout, almost _did_ shout. They hadn't even taken off his blindfolds. The rope around his limbs rendered him immobile. The panic escalated and his breath quickened.

_Don't leave me here! Don't leave me all alone. In the darkness…_

By the time his heart calmed, the silence was absolute. He felt the shameful urge to cry.

_This is nothing new, _he told himself. _This isn't even close to the worst._

But for now, there was nothing he could do except lie on the cold hard ground, waiting.

Waiting in the dark.

* * *

**You can thank PlatinumOwl who left an amusingly blunt review that encouraged me to get going. **

***There's a poll on my profile for my own curiosity. Please check it out if you've got a moment to spare. The question is: do you ever actually read anything on someone's profile?**

****What do you guys think of my new cover image? It's the product of whatever limited artistic ability I have and a will to procrastinate.**

*****[01/04/2013] I'm going to be replying to all reviews from this point forth. Just because. (I personally like it when my reviews are replied to, because it makes me feel like I'm not writing to no one.) So, thanks to those who have already taken the time to write a response, however short it may be.**


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